As the risk management profession changes, the Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc. continues to grow and evolve to better serve its members' professional needs, the society's leaders said during its Annual Conference & Exhibition held in April at the Los Angeles Convention Center.

The leaders of RIMS said that as risk management advances as a discipline, it brings added value to organizations and new opportunities to its practitioners, and the society is constantly looking for ways to help members tap those opportunities.

Speaking during the 2013 conference's opening session on April 22, Mary Roth, executive director of RIMS, said among the significant developments for the society is the continued extension of its global reach, including the new formation of local chapters RIMS Australasia and RIMS Peru. They are No. 81 and No. 82, respectively, of the organization's local chapters.

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.

Ms. Roth also cited such efforts as the society's annual enterprise risk management conference, its strategic risk management implementation guide and its legislative activities promoting initiatives such as extension of the federal terrorism reinsurance backstop and the National Flood Insurance Program. They are examples of the various ways the organization helps members do their jobs better and advance their careers. From a political perspective, RIMS political action committee, Risk Pac, continues to grow, she said.

In his remarks, RIMS President John Phelps, director of business risk solutions for Jacksonville, Fla.-based Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida Inc., outlined the growth 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.

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“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.

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,” he 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.”

And some will move into other areas of their organization 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, 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.

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The RIMS president also challenged his generation of risk professionals to embrace and assist those 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.

Speaking later during the conference, Mr. Phelps said risk managers are facing an unprecedented pace of change, in what he described as an era of “hypersonic chaos.”

Mr. Phelps said a combination of factors, including rapid technological change, regulatory pressure and economic upheaval have fundamentally altered the world in which risk managers operate.

“During the course of my career, what I do has changed radically,” he said. “Uncertainty is faster than ever,” he said.

In addition to the speed that challenges present themselves, risk managers find themselves under increased scrutiny from regulators, ratings agencies and corporate boards.

“There is no more getting it roughly right,” Mr. Phelps said. “You have to get it right.”

Associate Editor Bill Kenealy contributed to this report.