Bermuda Premier and island’s insurance industry experts to be featured speakers at RIMS 2017

HAMILTON, Bermuda, March 12, 2017 -- Bermuda Premier Michael Dunkley will speak about Bermuda’s historic US ties and the island’s global economic impact as part of a new Executive Leadership Track to debut at the RIMS 2017 Annual Conference & Exhibition in Philadelphia next month, Bermuda Business Development Agency (BDA) announced today.

Bermuda Premier Michael Dunkley with a full industry team at the BDA Booth at last year’s RIMS Annual Conference & Exhibition in San Diego

The Premier will join four other Bermuda-related speakers April 23–26 at RIMS 2017, the insurance industry’s biggest yearly event, expected to attract 10,000 risk-management professionals, service providers, senior executives and other decision-makers from a range of industries, plus 400 exhibitors.

“I feel very privileged to represent Bermuda so prominently at an industry event that has been very significant to our island over many decades,” said Premier Dunkley, one of 10 executive speakers on the new track—including Brad Kading, President and Executive Director of the Association of Bermuda Insurers & Reinsurers (ABIR), and Stephen Catlin, Executive Deputy Chairman of Bermuda-headquartered XL Catlin and Chair of the Insurance Development Forum (IDF).

“The government is grateful to RIMS for the opportunity to highlight Bermuda’s unique and substantial role as a world-respected international financial centre,” the Premier added. “The evolution of Bermuda’s highly respected market, our top-tier regulatory environment, our role in facilitating globalisation and covering losses from the world’s worst disasters—these are topics that should be interesting and relevant to the RIMS audience.”

It marks the first time a Bermuda Premier has delivered an official session at the conference. RIMS organisers invited Premier Dunkley to be a guest speaker after the BDA successfully submitted two other session proposals on behalf of Bermuda-based industry stakeholders.

“We’re delighted to see Bermuda represented so strongly at RIMS 2017, especially via the new Executive Leadership sessions,” said Ross Webber, CEO of the BDA, which has coordinated Bermuda’s presence at the prestigious event for the past four years.

“There have been very few, if any, Bermuda speakers at RIMS in recent years,” Webber noted. “Given the prominence of our island in the global insurance industry, this seemed like an anomaly we needed to address, so the BDA drove an effort to encourage Bermuda’s inclusion. It’s a fitting way to highlight the world-class talent in our jurisdiction, along with the innovation and global impact that have been hallmarks of Bermuda’s risk industry for the past half-century.”

The Premier is scheduled to deliver his hour-long presentation, “Small Wonder: Bermuda’s Supersized Impact on the World of Risk,” on the afternoon of Monday, April 24. It will coincide with a session on captive insurance at the same time, featuring Bermuda’s Brian Quinn, Founding Director of Granite Management, and Al Gier, President of Bermuda Captive Owners Association (BCOA) and Global Director of Corporate Risk Management & Insurance at General Motors. Quinn and Gier will talk on the topic, “Cutting-Edge Captives: How to Combat Hail, Hackers and Non-Human Drivers.”

The following day, Tuesday, April 25, another Executive Leadership presentation will feature a moderated panel on the Insurance Development Forum (IDF), moderated by ABIR’s Kading. The panel will include the IDF’s Stephen Catlin, along with Joaquim Levy, Managing Director and CFO of the World Bank Group, and a representative from the United Nations Development Program. The panel will discuss the industry-led initiative created last year to close the “Protection Gap” and increase insurance penetration in emerging markets.

“RIMS continues to find ways to energise its annual conference and deliver impactful educational programming that empowers attendees to better serve their organisations and advance professionally,” said RIMS Vice President, Events and Education, Stuart Ruff-Lyon. “The Executive Leadership Track gives our attendees access to world business leaders and the strategies they use to achieve greatness. We are proud to add this feature to the RIMS 2017 experience.

“Bermuda plays an important part in the insurance industry and has been a long-time supporter of RIMS initiatives,” Ruff-Lyon continued. “Bermuda’s Premier is a great addition to the RIMS Executive Leadership Track. He brings a wealth of knowledge and is a well-respected leader who will provide attendees with a unique perspective on the country’s very large impact on the world’s economy.”

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