June 2010
President's Message

We are halfway through 2010, and we have seen some significant activity from a Risk Management perspective, including:  How Facebook is Redefining Privacy; Toyota’s Recall Nightmare; Haiti’s 7.0 Earthquake; the Recovery of our US Economic Environment; and, of course, The Catastrophic Oil Spill in the Gulf;. As we head into Hurricane season, the clean up crews struggle to understand the impact to the wetlands and coast lines should a sizable hurricane strike while the waters are covered in oil.

Whatever industry you represent, this year so far has provided unique challenges to keep most Risk Management professionals closely tuned into these news events.  Our recent educational seminar on planning for “Black Swan” events, which are events that are unlikely to occur but if they occur can be devastating, leaves us wondering if Toyota could possibly have anticipated back to back recalls on their automobiles.  As a restaurant Risk Manager, I find myself thinking of the obvious risks against our brand, but find myself more anxious about the risks I have not yet thought of that could strike our industry.  The emerging risks we have seen this year obviously do not help my anxiety level, but networking with professionals in the Risk Management community offers comfort that I am not in this alone.

On a more positive note, in the last newsletter, we promised to enhance the annual golf tournament, hold a Day at the Races event, modify our educational luncheon series, and do more to support the Risk Management community in the Southern California area. 

As many of you know, we moved the annual golf tournament to Brookside Golf Course on May 12th in Pasadena and allowed our sponsors to “own a hole” as part of their sponsorship.  The tournament was a sell out, and the hole sponsorship was a huge success.  We will continue to build upon this new foundation and “raise the bar” in 2011.