Coming off a U.S. presidential campaign in which the “Joes” ofthe world assumed a very prominent role, perhaps it is only fittingthat it was “Joe the Risk Manager” who took over the presidency ofthe Risk and Insurance Management Society for 2009. As RIMSpresident, Joe Restoule has a number of goals, but the mostimportant one is to project his own company's culture of innovationand creativity to benefit his risk management colleagues, helpingthem cope with these “interesting” times of financial stress andemerging exposures.

“I come from an environment where we're allowed to be creativeand innovative,” said Mr. Restoule, whose title is leader of riskmanagement for NOVA Chemicals Corp.–one of Canada's largestpetrochemical companies. “When we see times such as these, we getexcited, because we see not only the troubled waters, but we alsosee opportunity.”

At NOVA, he added, “we're trained and educated to look foropportunities–where you take something that's negative and perhapsmake it into a positive outcome.” Mr. Restoule said he plans totake that “zest for creativity and innovation and continuousimprovement to RIMS this year.”

He appreciates the challenges facing his risk managementcolleagues, with so many struggling in a tough economy. “It's notlike the seas are steady,” he said. “They're fairly rough, but I'mexcited about it.”

As RIMS president, Mr. Restoule said his overall theme will be:“Taking action to challenge your Risk IQ.”

“We have different types of risk practitioners,” he said. “Itdoesn't matter which area of risk you practice–traditional,enterprise or strategic–how can you increase the level ofcompetency, the IQ?”

He also noted that his goal is to inspire risk managers to moreproactive, rather than reactive. “Is there a way you can do thingsdifferently? A different way you can look at a problem or assist inyour business plan–to enhance or protect it?”

Another objective during his tenure, he said, will be to do afeasibility study on developing a new international strategy forRIMS, looking at how RIMS might assist risk practitioners in otherareas of the world, as well as how such an outreach effort mightbenefit the current membership.

To do this, Mr. Restoule said, RIMS has assembled a task forcewithin its board and also hired an outside consultant to assist inframing the necessary questions in the areas that need to beexamined.

An international strategy would benefit a number of NorthAmerican risk managers, “because companies are so much moreglobal–this would help them deal with those challenges,” heexplained. Those challenges could include issues such as supplychain risks, as well as understanding foreignregulations–particularly in emerging markets like China, India andthe nations of Eastern Europe, he said.

“We may be able to offer more professional development coursesin these areas, through webinars, seminars or at the annualconference,” he noted. “We're positioned to assist our membershipas they go international, because we have good alliances with otherrisk organizations throughout the world. We've never formalizedthat.”

Sticking with the theme of globalization in risk management, hesaid RIMS presidents have been “good ambassadors and they're goodfacilitators. I see myself continuing in that tradition.”

Another objective during his one-year presidency, he said, is tore-emphasize the RIMS “Maturity Model for Enterprise RiskManagement” described on the group's Web site as “an onlineresource that allows risk practitioners to score their riskprograms online and receive a real-time report. This analysis,based on guidelines set forth in the model, serves as a foundationfor an organization to set its priorities for future ERMimprovements.”

Mr. Restoule said RIMS will emphasize how undergoing thisprocess “leads us into more strategic risk management,” noting thatin the current environment, “everyone is reviewing their riskassessment and risk identification processes in all industries, notjust financial institutions.”

“We will continue to develop this process for our members, so weare currently reviewing our own strategic plan as to how we mightenhance delivery of the product and services related to enterpriserisk and strategic risk,” he said.

Mr. Restoule said that one of his passions in risk management iscultivating the next generation of risk professionals, noting thathe sits on the RIMS Spencer Educational Foundation board.

He said he also is president of the William H. McGannonFoundation in Canada, which is similar to Spencer in that it raisesfunds for scholarship, internships and student involvement at theregional RIMS conference.

“We have an aging demographic and boomers coming out of theworkforce, so who are the next generation of risk practitioners?”he asked. “I get excited about working with the students andassisting them financially.”

In Canada, he explained, “we have been spending a lot of timewith the Junior Achievement program. If we can influence them toconsider majoring in risk and insurance before they enroll inuniversity, that's a real coup for us.”

From an information technology perspective, he said RIMS islooking at encouraging more online social networking and offeringadditional virtual events to advance risk management practices.

“As you know, the young professionals coming in are sotechnologically savvy,” Mr. Restoule said. He would like to see theRIMS social network “have the functionality of Facebook, and wehope we'll get more members talking to each other about currentissues in risk management–so we want to provide a forum forthat.”

Mr. Restoule said he appreciates how important it is to work inan environment where risk management is emphasized throughout allof its operations.

He noted that his company's worker safety program is in the “topdeciles in our industry. It's good process safety management,focusing on loss prevention and behavioral-based safety.” Whether aNOVA employee is white collar or blue collar, he said, “we look athow we perform our job, and we pay attention to safety at work–andaway from work.”

What drives this culture at NOVA is “having our employees fitand everybody ready to be productive,” he said, explaining thatthis is important because of the cyclical nature of hisbusiness.

“When demand is high for our products, we want the plant, ourpeople, everything running at full steam,” he said. “So you can'tafford to have unscheduled outages, due to key personnel orequipment being incapacitated. You have to be poised andready.”

The company also believes that every accident is preventable, headded. “We incentivize everybody for good safety performance and wedon't have a culture of blame,” he said. “What we do is look at howwe can learn from incidents that occur–not only from accidents butalso near misses–and we share that across the company.

What's a typical day for Mr. Restoule? “There is no typicalday,” he said. “That's the beauty of the job. What was a priorityyesterday may not be today.”

In the NOVA culture, he emphasized, “we're all very sound,fundamentally, at what we do, but we think the key to our successis being nimble and being empowered to do what we need to do,whatever the issue of the day is.”

Mr. Restoule is involved in all areas of the company's riskmanagement program, both qualitative and quantitative–includingrisk assessment, risk financing, loss control, safety, businesscontinuity and emergency response. Indeed, one of the challenges ofrisk management, he said, is that it gets into all aspects of thecompany's operations.

Covering the firm's risks goes beyond buying insurance, henoted, with all risk retention strategies on the table.

The company has a captive domiciled in Barbados, he said, formedto underwrite various risks for NOVA and provide direct access tothe reinsurance community in Bermuda and Europe.

On the risk of terrorism–a major concern for the chemicalindustry–he said much will depend on the approach of newadministrations, both in the United States and Canada.

“I think the world is waiting to see what the new U.S.administration will do,” he said. “How industry and the politicalleaders will respond remains to be seen. We'll have to see how itworks out. There is optimism for foreign policy reformation. Ithink the world realizes the current course is not satisfactory,and that we need change.”