Gambling and other risk taking

Gambling and risk taking are close, if uneasy, bedfellows, and at their 2008 annual conference, members of AIRMIC will hear the views of a professional poker player on the way organisations take decisions and communicate. The event will take place at Edinburgh International Conference Centre on 17 and 18 June with a theme of communicating risk management. Attendance is free for members.

Aged only 33, conference keynote speaker Caspar Berry has already had a remarkably wide career. He read economics and anthropology at Cambridge, wrote for television and films, became a professional gambler and built a media company in north east England. He now presents television programmes and speaks to companies about the way we think, particularly when it comes to risk taking, communicating and decision making.

The other keynote speakers this year are James Bellini, a man who describes himself as 'an historian of the future', and Darrell Jaya-Ratnam, business group manager of the modelling and explosives applications division ofQintiQ, a UK defence and security firm.

James Bellini has an academic and broadcasting background. He plans to speak about keeping the board ahead of future risks. Darrell Jaya-Ratnam is an expert in the modelling of complex systems. After the terrorist attacks of 9/11, he set up a company to assist corporate clients model the financial impact of war and terrorism on their operations and investments, develop strategies to mitigate losses and communicate the effect of these activities on intrinsic value. His clients include insurance firms, industrial, engineering and defence companies, and UK and US government agencies.

The programme will begin with a morning of training sessions, for members only, on corporate governance, project risk management, reputation and brand management, and risk management strategy. In addition to the three keynote speakers, there are three lectures planned, one by Roger Sellick, managing director global financial services A M Best, who will speak about the role of insurer financial strength ratings.

Independent consulting actuary John Birkenhead is passionate about explaining mathematics in simple practical terms, bridging the divide between the practical risk management needed

by risk managers and the complex mathematical models used to estimate risk. His talk is entitled 'extra values – not for the faint-hearted'.

The third lecture is on the subject of directors' and officers' (D&O) liability and insurance. The speakers will be Adrian Jenner, managing director of the D&O practice at broker HSBC, and solicitors Sarah Turpin and Jane Harte- Lovelace from the law firm K&L Gates.

Workshops will round out the programme and will cover such core topics as employers' liability, supply chain risks and motor fleets, issues close to the hearts of AIRMIC members.