The Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA) has elected Simon Grima from the Malta Association of Risk Managers (MARM) and Lene Ritz from DARIM to the board.
The remaining five members, Philippe Cotelle of AMRAE, Tapio Huovinen of The Finnish Risk Management Association (FinnRima), Gaëtan Lefèvre of BELRIM, Xavier Mutzig of Airmic, Laurent Nihoul of ALRiM, start their second three-year mandate.
In addition to the board appointments, Dirk Wegener, president of FERMA, outlined the steps that FERMA has been taking to support its members and European businesses in the face of COVID-19.
Wegener noted that FERMA is currently focusing on its proposal for a European Catastrophe Risk Resilience Framework to address future pandemics and other systemic risks across Europe.
“COVID-19 will heighten awareness of the value of sound risk management,” stated Wegener.
He explained: “I have no doubt that we will reflect a great deal on the experiences and lessons of this extraordinary period of our lives. We strongly believe that it is also an opportunity to heighten awareness of the value of sound risk management.”
“Perhaps as never before, risk managers can demonstrate their true potential as the co-pilot on risk and insurance for senior management and the board,” he added.
Wegener also set out the broad framework that FERMA has created to strengthen its position as a strategic partner for the European Commission by linking FERMA’s workstreams with specific commission programmes.
These include a new sustainability committee for A European Green Deal; a digital committee for A Europe fit for the digital age; the Solvency II and captives committee for the commission programme An economy that works for people; and in response to the COVID-19 crisis, FERMA has created its Resilience Taskforce.