President's Message

As the incoming President of the Southern Alberta Risk & Insurance Management Society (SARIMS), I am delighted to welcome you to our new site, and acknowledge the hard work of our Past President, Curtis Desiatnyk in making it a reality.

With our new site, we hope to better serve our members with advanced features, and unprecedented access to all things SARIMS.

This past year has been filled with inspired SARIMS events designed to serve our members; our Golf Committee led a successful event, the Networking Committee hosted a tremendous Holiday Gala, and the Education committee provided a series of affordable and informative educational sessions. Each of these successes can be attributed to our Board of Directors, as well as the dedicated team of volunteers from across the industry.

I would like to thank our board of directors, committee members, corporate sponsors and you, our dedicated members. Your support has ensured SARIMS continues to be one the premier networking and professional development providers for RIMS in Canada.

SARIMS prides itself on five strong pillars:

Education: Providing educational opportunities for our community is a core initiative for our chapter. In addition to a highly successful RIMS Canada Conference, the chapter hosts learning opportunities at our monthly breakfast meetings. The chapter remains a strong supporter of the Canadian Risk Management designation program, as well as the University of Calgary and Bow Valley College’s Risk and Insurance Management Programs, which consistently produce high caliber young risk professionals.

Networking: Providing valuable networking opportunities to our members is an area where SARIMS really shines; our annual golf tournament is always a success, while our Holiday Gala and Summer Social have become “must attend” events.

Leadership: Our Chapter is founded on leadership. Many of the risk professionals in our community have, at one time, been members of the SARIMS Board of Directors. Our seasoned risk professionals are mentors and advisors to our developing risk professionals and students. Through this leadership model we have created a community devoted to each other’s growth and success.

Community investment: SARIMS believes it is important to invest in the Southern Alberta community. We have developed a partnership with the City of Calgary Police Foundation and the South West Alberta Road Safety Society (in Lethbridge) to provide bike helmets, equipment and safety awareness for children. SARIMS also contributes to the McGannon Foundation and Bow Valley College to support risk education in Canada.

Celebration: We are a community that celebrates each other’s accomplishments; we recognize and celebrate that we are home to many outstanding and accomplished risk professionals.

We look forward to your participation in SARIMS and to seeing you at an upcoming event!

Sincerely,

Suzann Lewis, President