Daniel H. Kugler is deeply involved in sharing his risk management knowledge with others as a teacher, so to be recognized as the first individual award honoree in the Katie School of Insurance and Financial Services of Illinois State University's Midwestern Insurance Innovation and Leadership Awards & Hall of Fame is something special.

“I was surprised, pleasantly. To me it's a big deal,” said Mr. Kugler, assistant treasurer-risk management at Snap-on Inc. in Kenosha, Wis. “To be the first one is kind of special.”

In announcing its recognition of Mr. Kugler, who was Business Insurance's 2002 Risk Manager of the Year, the Katie School called him “an example of innovation and leadership in risk management and insurance, serving the next generation, from right here in the Midwest.”

The award recognizes an individual “whose activities bring honor and dignity to risk management and insurance professionals working in the risk management and the insurance industry.”

Mr. Kugler joined Snap-on in 1979 as a risk analyst and is responsible for directing the company's worldwide risk management activities as well as security and loss-prevention programs for the parent company and its subsidiaries. He also leads Snap-on's captive insurance operations.

Among risk management innovations that the Katie School cited in recognizing Mr. Kugler are his using Snap-on's captives, tapping technology to reduce workers compensation claims by quickly identifying areas that require intervention, and implementing a more efficient claims administration process.

Mr. Kugler's involvement with risk management education includes frequent Katie School visits. He's twice been a Spencer Educational Foundation Risk Manager in Residence there and usually is on campus once or twice a year to teach a class.

Among other teaching activities, Mr. Kugler, who also serves on the board of the Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc., teaches risk management, managerial economics, international economics and sustainability at Concordia University Wisconsin.

Teaching, Mr. Kugler said, is “a nice hobby for me. I stink at golf. I don't do woodworking. I don't hunt or fish. So I look at this as my hobby.”