Laurie Solomon, director of global risk management at The Coca-Cola Co. in Atlanta, will retire this week after 20 years with the world's largest soft drink company. Her accomplishments have been many, including fundamentally changing Coca-Cola's risk-taking strategies and using corporate captive insurance companies to fund employee benefit and other company risks. In 2011, Ms. Solomon was named to Business Insurance's Risk Management Honor Roll®. In an interview with Business Insurance Editor-at-Large Jerry Geisel, Ms. Solomon reflected on her career. Edited excerpts follow.

Q: What have been some of the major changes you have seen in corporate risk management during your 20 years with Coca-Cola?

A: There are coverages, such as cyber insurance, in place now that didn't exist when I started. Some of the biggest changes are the speed of information flow and the global reach of just about any company — not just Coca Cola — with so many companies having global issues.

Interestingly enough, though, some of the basics of understanding risk, aligning risk-taking with corporate objectives, good clear communications, solid claims handling, loss prevention — those are still fundamentals to the success of a company in managing risk.

Q: What have been your greatest accomplishments?

A: One of the things that stands out certainly is the Coca-Cola acquisition that took place in 2010. This was the coming together of two very large Atlanta-based companies ... the North American operations of bottler Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. that was purchased by The Coca-Cola Co. Bringing together the data, the people, the insurance program, all while saving nearly $14 million in actual hard insurance costs — that was a great achievement.

Then, there has been the development of my staff. I have seen people come in with no insurance background, no risk management background, who have taken on global risk management responsibilities. That has been very satisfying for me.

There also was the establishment of one of our captives, Red Re Inc., which became a vehicle to fund employee benefits and accelerate the deductibility of first-party premiums.

One of the most important successes has been, in my view, the establishment of exceptional credibility within the insurance marketplace. Many of us here have worked hard to nurture relationships with brokers and insurance companies and vendor partners, and I think this has served Coca-Cola very well.

Q: What advice would you give someone starting out in corporate risk management?

A: The key always is going to be really learning your company, and to reach out to individuals in the operations and functions to better understand what they do and how they do it.

Q: Why did you decide to retire now?

A: I've been at this for 30 years, between my time as an underwriter and my time here as a buyer. A brief hiatus sounds pretty good to me.

I know there are other chapters in my future, but a break now to re-energize and refocus sounds great.

I do see myself coming back. I really would like to be able to use what I see as my greatest asset: my experience ... in the areas of global risk management, negotiations, problem solving, analytics, judgment — all of these to solve other problems.

Q: What did you enjoy most about working at the company?

A: One of the things I enjoyed about being The Coca-Cola Co.'s risk manager — one of the things that kept me here as long as it has — was the variety of new challenges and ongoing need for problem solving. I loved being the face of Coca-Cola to the marketplace. I have always been very proud of the company and of the brand.