The risk management society RIMS has named the winners of its annual industry awards, handed out during keynote sessions at RISKWORLD in Philadelphia, in a year when the profession finds itself squarely at the center of corporate decision-making.
More than 10,000 professionals descended on the conference, where the mood was anything but calm. Executives painted a picture of a "structurally more volatile" risk environment, returning again and again to litigation risk, economic turbulence, AI, cyberattacks, social inflation and runaway jury awards.
Taking home the Harry and Dorothy Goodell Award was Nowell Seaman, recently retired special projects lead, insurance and risk management at Federated Co-operatives Limited and RIMS 2017 global board president.
RIMS points to a career spanning more than 25 years across enterprise and operational risk, alternative risk transfer, business continuity and crisis response, with Seaman sitting on the RIMS Board of Directors from 2007 to 2018.
Risk Manager of the Year went to Jeffrey Bray, senior vice president and head of global risk management at Prologis, Inc. The society singled out Bray for an unusually broad toolkit, citing his use of catastrophe bonds, parametric insurance, alternative risk transfer and a captive insurer to bring down the cost of risk across the global logistics landlord's portfolio.
Joining the RIMS Risk Management Honor Roll was Emily Buckley, insurance risk manager at Specialized Bicycle Components. As the cycling group's first dedicated risk manager, Buckley built the function from scratch, delivered more than $7 million in cumulative property insurance savings over four years and rolled out a global business continuity program, RIMS said.
The Volunteer of the Year Award went to Candace Heron, manager of claims management at Toronto Hydro and co-chair and co-founder of RIMS Ontario Chapter's Rising Risk Professional Network.
Tyler Vaughan, global risk manager, corporate risk and insurance at Cook Group Incorporated, picked up the Rising Risk Professional Award, reserved for professionals under 35 or with seven or fewer years in the industry.
Jorge Luzzi entered the RIMS Risk Management Hall of Fame in what is a posthumous honor. Luzzi, a former global risk chief at Pirelli and Telecom Italia who went on to lead Lisbon-based consultancy RCG, died in 2024.
He was the first non-North American to serve as RIMS president, in 2008, and founded the Latin American Risk Management Foundation. RIMS describes him as an early voice for treating risk management as a strategic discipline rather than a technical insurance-buying function.
The RIMS Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter was named Chapter of the Year for its 2025 programming, with chapter president Catrina Gilbert accepting on its behalf.
The RIMS Rocky Mountain Chapter took home the inaugural RIMS Community Impact Award for leadership in community-building and professional development.
Chapter Honors went to the RIMS Los Angeles Chapter and the RIMS Saskatchewan Chapter, both recognized for aligning their work with the society's priorities to innovate, develop, engage, and advocate for the risk community.
