With the risk management profession increasingly shaped by worldwide events, the Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc. must focus on expanding internationally, the organization’s president said Monday.

Speaking at the General Session of this year’s RIMS Annual Conference & Exhibition in Vancouver, Scott B. Clark, risk and benefits officer for Miami-Dade County Public Schools, noted that “ripple effects” from catastrophes and other events around the world can affect risk managers for years.

Significant world events are part of a constantly changing landscape confronting risk managers, he said, though adding, “through all of this turbulence RIMS remains a constant steadying force.”

The increasingly international nature of the profession is reshaping risk management, Mr. Clark said. “To answer that call, RIMS is exploring how we can expand our organization internationally,” he said. “It is time to bring RIMS’ advantage to the rest of the world.”

Mr. Clark said that his travels around the world with RIMS have shown him that despite language and cultural differences, “We can leverage the common ground of the fundamentals of risk management worldwide.”

An illustration of that worldwide impact and RIMS’ global role came as the RIMS president promoted the RIMS for Japan bracelets on sale at this year’s conference to raise funds for Japanese earthquake and tsunami recovery efforts. Thus far the society and local RIMS chapters have raised $20,000 for the effort, Mr. Clark said.

Mr. Clark introduced Yoshi Hamaji, executive director of the RIMS Japan Chapter, who showed his appreciation for the society’s support in both words and with a bow to the audience. “It goes without saying the Japanese economy has suffered greatly, and with harmful rumors of radiation it stands to reason that tough times are ahead,” Mr. Hamaji said.

Closer to home, Mr. Clark encouraged risk managers to pursue enterprise risk management at their organizations.

“This discipline is no longer only about identifying and transferring risk,” he said, noting that many of the world’s largest businesses have come to recognize that elevating the role of risk management in the organization helps them make better strategic decisions, improves their business and reduces cost.

“This is where RIMS fits in,” Mr. Clark said. “We must lead the charge. And this begins with a standardized definition of strategic risk management.”

The society’s president highlighted some of the group’s recent efforts on the legislative and regulatory front, citing RIMS’ involvement in such areas as the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, the Federal Insurance Office and pushing for reauthorization of the federal terrorism insurance backstop program before it expires in 2014.

He encouraged RIMS members to participate in this year’s RIMS on the Hill event in Washington, to be held June 12-14, and discussed the organization’s formation of its RISK PAC political action committee. “We felt the time was right to take our advocacy efforts to the next level,” Mr. Clark said.

Mary Roth, New York-based RIMS’ executive director, discussed growth in the society’s membership, noting that 72% of RIMS chapters experienced growth last year, with 25% reporting growth of more than 10%.

The organization also has begun to see expansion in the sorts of professionals joining the society. “With the changing nature of risk we have seen a growing group of nontraditional risk professionals,” Ms. Roth said, with new members coming from areas of their companies such as technology, security and internal audit.