Janice Ochenkowski, vice president for external affairs, testified before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Financial Management along with Mr. Spitzer, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, then New York Superintendent of Insurance Greg Serio, California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi, and other high-profile industry and government officials. Her testimony on behalf of RIMS can be found at the society's Web site. (Go to www.rims.org, click on “Public Affairs,” then “Press” and check the press release from Nov. 16, 2004.)

RIMS officials including myself and Mary Roth, our executive director met with then N.Y. Superintendent Serio to respond to inquiries regarding contingency fees.

RIMS worked with the National Association of Insurance Commissioners to participate in a public hearing of the NAIC Executive Task Force on Broker Activities on Dec. 4, 2004.

On Dec. 7, 2004, RIMS officials met with Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly to respond to inquiries and assist in resolving contingency fee issues.

Michael Gaona, a member of the RIMS board of directors, testified on Jan. 7 before the New York State Assembly Standing Committee on Insurance, along with Mr. Spitzer and Mr. Serio.

In addition, as RIMS president, I have spoken to numerous publications and leading news sources around the world to promote RIMS' position on contingency fee issues, as has Janice Ochenkowski. RIMS position has been mentioned in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Bloomberg, Business Insurance, and more.

I encourage you to access the section of RIMS home page designated to providing updates on this issue as it develops. It can be found at: http://www.rims.org/Template.cfm?Section=Home_Page_Complete_Articles&Template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=8185.

Those who are planning to attend the RIMS 2005 Conference and Exhibition in Philadelphia from April 17-21 are invited to register for RM 204 and RM 230, “Broker Contingency FeesWhat You Should Know,” which will include in-depth discussions of contingency fee arrangements.

RIMS also offers its Quality Improvement Process to guide and facilitate communication, effective performance and evaluate agreements in relationships with industry partners. For more information about the QIP, go to www.rims.org, and click on the “Products & Services” section.

As a proactive voice in the risk management industry since the society was founded in 1950, RIMS represents nearly 4,800 industrial, service, nonprofit, charitable and governmental entities, and serves 8,400 risk management professionals around the world. RIMS will continue to provide its members with exclusive professional development programs, networking opportunities, tools for business, breaking news, outstanding publications, involvement with legislators and regulators, and innovative technology.

Nancy L. Chambers is president of the Risk and Insurance Management Society in New York, as well as risk manager for the Waterloo Region Municipalities Insurance Pool in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada.

Reproduced from National Underwriter Edition, April 29, 2003. Copyright 2003 by The National Underwriter Company in the serial publication. All rights reserved.Copyright in this article as an independent work may be held by the author.