AIRMIC members were prominent among the award-winners whose professionalism and talent were honoured at the European Risk Management Awards ceremony in London recently.
AIRMIC members were prominent among the award-winners whose professionalism and talent were honoured at the European Risk Management Awards ceremony in London recently.
AIRMIC council member Geoff Lingham gained the award for the Most Effective Use of Technology. As risk manager at Electrolux Holdings, he used existing technology to create a "customised" transparent claims-handling system for operating units, also enabling them to manage their own risks more effectively. "An intensely practical and committed risk manager who is comfortable with using technology to solve his problems simply and quickly," said the judges of the European Awards, staged by International Risk Management magazine at the Dorchester Hotel. "Lingham's contribution is attractive, simple, precisely focused and demonstrably of considerable value. It has a range of functions and it is using technology rather than being used by technology," the judges added.
Stuart Martin, as corporate risk manager with BAe Systems (now insurance manager with Balfour Beatty) was named the Industry Newcomer of the Year. A risk management graduate of Glasgow Caledonian University, Stuart was described as having "bags of energy and ideas". He is currently chairman of the AIRMIC e-commerce special interest group. In addition to his leadership in the e-commerce field, the judges said: "Noteworthy is Mr. Martin's concept of creating special awareness of contractual risk management, product integrity and document management, and incorporating this into an overall well-structured risk management and risk control concept."
One of AIRMIC's overseas members, Marie-Gemma Dequae, was named as overall European Risk Manager of the Year. Marie-Gemma, corporate risk manager of the Bekaert Group, was described by the judges as "a risk manager with vision" and as having "a palpable impact on her company as well as her country". The first woman to win the European title, Marie-Gemma has been president of the Belgian Association of Risk Managers (Belrim) since 1994.
Graeme Connell, a former AIRMIC council member, was inducted into the European Risk Management "Hall of Fame". Graeme, who was commended for his risk management expertise during the separation of ICI and Zeneca, was described as having "a real visionary approach to the profession over many years, developing new concepts in the marketplace, yet operating relatively unobtrusively. Many risk managers today owe their professionalism to his tutoring and mentoring."Commenting on the awards, AIRMIC chairman Alan Fleming said: "These successes are an indication of the growing professionalism and skills being used within the risk and insurance sector to add value to corporate performance. We congratulate the AIRMIC award-winners on achieving this recognition of their work and their commitment to furthering awareness and knowledge of risk management."
Earlier this year, AIRMIC deputy chairman Philip Thomas, director of risk management for Bass pic, won acclaim at the British Insurance Awards, gaining the overall Risk Management Award. And last month, at the Institute of Risk Management annual conference, Neil Timberlake, assistant risk manager of Whitbread pic, won the coveted Aon Travelling Scholarship for the best IRM examination results.
