Risk management continues to evolve as a discipline, bringing added value to organizations and new opportunities to its practitioners, the leaders of the Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc. said Monday during the opening session of the society's 2013 conference and exhibition.

And as the profession changes, RIMS continues to grow and evolve to better serve its members' professional needs, the group's leaders said. Among those developments is the extension of RIMS' global reach, with Mary Roth, the society's executive director, announcing the formation of two new chapters: RIMS Australasia and RIMS Peru, chapters No. 80 and No. 81, respectively.

In her remarks, Ms. Roth said RIMS now has more than 11,000 members around the world. “As membership continues to grow globally, we are better positioned to address risks that transcend national boundaries,” she said.

She cited such RIMS efforts as the society's annual enterprise risk management conference, its strategic risk management implementation guide and its legislative activities promoting such initiatives as extension of the federal terrorism reinsurance backstop and the National Flood Insurance Program as examples of the various ways the organization helps members do their jobs better and advance their careers.

RIMS President John Phelps, director of business risk solutions for Jacksonville, Fla.-based Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Inc., outlined the development of risk management from an insurance-buying focus to the enterprise risk management and strategic risk management approaches taken by an increasing number of organizations today.

“At each stage, we've become more and more involved in the critical decisions that ensure our companies' success,” Mr. Phelps said. And as more organizations embrace risk management, there are more and more opportunities for risk managers, he said.

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RIMS can help risk practitioners take advantage of those opportunities, Mr. Phelps said.“My career in risk management has been a journey of learning and discovery guided from the very beginning by RIMS,” he said.

“Today the risk management profession is strong, diverse, full of opportunity,” Mr. Phelps said. “Some risk professionals will continue to focus on insurance — the root of our profession. Others will focus on enterprise risk management and strategic risk management.”

Some will move into other areas of organizations, such as finance or marketing, Mr. Phelps said, while others will use risk management “as a springboard to the C-suite.”

As both a risk manager and a RIMS leader, Mr. Phelps said he has a special interest in the next generation of risk professionals, an interest he asked other RIMS members to share. “To ensure that risk management continues to thrive, it is essential for us to present a vibrant vision of the future,” he said.

In bringing the next generation into the profession, however, “some important questions remain,” Mr. Phelps said. “How will we pass the collective knowledge and wisdom of my generation?”

“A big part of the answer lies in RIMS,” the society's president said. Mr. Phelps challenged young risk professionals to involve themselves in local RIMS chapter leadership and national RIMS committees. “We need your energy and your insights,” he said.

The RIMS president also challenged his generation of risk professionals to embrace and assist people new to the profession. “I believe that veteran risk practitioners like myself have a special responsibility to guide our younger colleagues and to create an environment in which they want to become involved,” he said.