Risk forum the first RIMS event ever to be held in Australia.

The Risk and Insurance Management Society’s (RIMS) Risk Forum held in Melbourne yesterday followed the establishment earlier this year of an Australasia chapter.

It incorporated the official launch of the chapter with RIMS Board and executive managers in attendance.

Chapter president Colin Knox (pictured) called the event “a huge success”, adding that the number of registrations exceeded initial expectations.

“It was a very strong beginning for the chapter, in what the chapter board and RIMS see as the start of an exciting journey that is filled with opportunities for RIMS and its members,” Knox told StrategicRISK.

“The quality of the speakers and the content of their presentations was second to none and we were extremely pleased with the feedback received during and immediately following the forum.”

Knox, who is risk and assurance director at Treasury Wine Estates, said that there was clearly a strong demand for a member-based risk management organisation that is “focused on the needs of corporate and government risk managers”. “This was demonstrated both by the strong attendance yesterday and the promises to return to future events,” he said.

The next major Australian RIMS event will be held in Sydney in August 2014, Knox revealed. “In addition to this, a number of risk management roundtables are being scheduled in various cities in Australia and New Zealand for 2014,” he added.

Knox said that the RIMS Australasia Chapter was established as part of the society’s strategic goal to increase its influence, advocacy and global profile across South-east Asia and Oceania.

“The value of risk management has become increasingly evident in Australia and the surrounding region,” he said. “Here, practitioners are relentless in their quest for more knowledge and resources when developing or advancing their risk-management programmes.

“We look forward to being that resource, enabling them to exceed expectations, manage risks more effectively and leverage new and exciting opportunities for their organisations.”

With most of the founding member organisations comprising the largest publicly listed and private corporations in Australia and New Zealand, the representatives appointed to the new RIMS Australasia Chapter Board are among the region’s most respected executive risk managers and thought leaders, many with international responsibilities.

RIMS is a not-for-profit organisation representing more than 3,500 industrial, service, non-profit, charitable and government entities throughout the world. It now has more than 11,000 members, located in more than 60 countries.