Director of Risk Management

Company Overview

Educational & Institutional Insurance Administrators, Inc. (EIIA) is a member-driven consortium of private, faith-inspired colleges, universities and seminaries providing innovative insurance and risk management services. EIIA was formed over fifty (50) years ago during the 1960s when a number of historically black colleges and universities associated with the United Methodist Church were unable to obtain property and casualty coverages from the traditional insurance marketplace. The United Methodist Church assisted the colleges by encouraging them to purchase the coverage as a group. This generated adequate premium volume for an insurance company to offer coverage. EIIA was formally incorporated as a not-for-profit corporation in 1976 with the specific purpose of providing group purchasing and administration of insurance programs for higher education institutions.

The group purchasing of the property and casualty coverages for these colleges was so successful that the concept spread to employee health and welfare benefit programs, long-term disability, life insurance, accidental death and dismemberment, and student health and accident needs of these institutions. Risk management services were added to aid these institutions in managing and avoiding risk.

EIIA’s office is located in downtown Chicago and currently works in a hybrid environment. EIIA staff of insurance and risk management professionals serves more than one hundred and forty-five (145) higher education institutions located in thirty-nine (39) states. In addition, EIIA operates two (2) Vermont domiciled captive insurance companies and two (2) grantor trusts.

Currently, EIIA is seeking a Director for our Risk Management Team.

About the job

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

The Director, Risk Management is the primary contact for assigned member institutions. As such, the Director must cultivate effective working relationships with Members throughout all levels of their campus, develop a familiarity with the products and services provided by all EIIA Teams, and function in a dual risk manager/customer service role.

The Director works in a consultative manner to identify risks to higher education; opportunities to advance the Member’s risk management program; develop effective risk management services strategies for member institutions; conduct on-site risk management reviews and education; document service activities and support the EIIA internal teams in resource creation and program development for all member institutions.

Significant Job Responsibilities:

Risk Management

• Develop and execute services for each assigned member institution focused on preventing losses and strengthening their risk management program based upon current member needs, emerging exposures, EIIA risk management standards, and EIIA resources.
• Deliver a broad range of loss control, insurance, and risk management services. Specific applications might include risk management and coverage situational analysis, loss cause analysis, risk management reviews of contracts, regulatory compliance, educational sessions, OSHA regulations, life safety codes, fleet safety.
• Perform higher education-specific exposure analyses, data analysis, and develop appropriate risk mitigation strategies.
• Collaborate with institutions to identify significant risk management concerns by performing evaluations and developing a strategy to address those concerns.
• Act as an advocate for members’ risk management efforts when dealing with internal institution departments, vendors, and outside service providers by presenting information that identifies and supports the need for adopting risk management techniques.
• Conduct various types of campus visits, such as orientation, loss-focused, new member, and risk management.
• Review contracts, agreements, and letters of understanding from a risk management perspective and advise institutions on insurance requirements, indemnification, subrogation, hold harmless and awareness/assumption of risk, and identify any loss prevention recommendations to be established.
• Plan, manage, and direct externally sourced loss prevention and safety service activities to ensure timely delivery of quality services to the EIIA Members.
• Support the EIIA Risk Management Team’s efforts with contribution and initiative in developing resources for EIIA website postings and member reference material.
• Monitor and share risk management/safety/loss prevention best practices, standards or trends for potential impacts and opportunities within the higher education field.

Specific Skills and Abilities:

• Professionalism, quality, accuracy, and customer service oriented.
• Oral and written communication skills for effective interface with members, and EIIA teams to articulate coverage and risk management best practices, day-to-day correspondences, develop manuals, policies, procedures, and reports.
• Ability to develop and deliver high level informative and professional presentations to small and large groups.
• Accept responsibility and accountability for results related to assigned institutions and other work projects.
• Initiative, adaptability, and flexibility to meet the demands of the Risk Management Team.
• Analytical problem-solving ability to draw correct inferences from information, weigh alternatives and select the most favorable solutions.
• Attention to detail to ensure completeness and accuracy of all members’ service activities, internal projects, and special assignments.
• Interpersonal and team building skills to deal openly and candidly with both members and others.
• Organization and planning abilities to efficiently manage and prioritize time, activities, projects, and resources.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

This position does not have any direct supervisory responsibilities but leads and collaborates with the RM team to execute the service model. Functional supervision may include assignment and distribution of work, coordination of projects and activities, and resolving issues.

Required Qualifications:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty accurately. The requirements listed above are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.

The Director should have knowledge of:

• Fundamental risk management and loss control practices.
• A broad range of insurance policies, coverages, and insurance operations.
• Basic understanding of property, liability, and workers’ compensation claims management processes.
• Proficiency in MS Office products: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Dynamics 365.

Preferred Qualifications: Professional designation(s) of, Associate in Risk Management (ARM), Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter (CPCU)or other insurance and/or loss prevention designations are desired.

Education and Experience:

Undergraduate degree or equivalent required; advanced degree a plus. Minimum of five (5) years experience in risk management, safety, and loss control, and/or similar insurance related field experience or combination of training and experience is preferred. Possessing advisory, consultative, or account management experience is a plus.

Primary Skill Sets:

This position requires a strong work ethic and customer service skills along with strong analytical skills; possess self-motivation and self-initiative the ability to carry out responsibilities independently; ability to work both independently and collaboratively with diverse groups; strong interpersonal skills; excellent written and oral communication skills; strong organizational and analytical skills; ability to adapt to workload demands; ability to develop and complete projects with minimum supervision; troubleshooting and problem-solving skills; keen eye for details; and the ability to develop and deliver presentations to large and small groups.

Proficiency in the use of Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint and the ability to learn new systems is required.

Travel:

This position requires the ability to travel as needed, including weekends. Member institutions are located throughout the United States including rural areas. This requirement is estimated to be approximately 30% of total time to attend meetings with vendors, industry conferences, EIIA governance meetings, training and professional development workshops and seminars.

Work Environment:

Hybrid model. The work environment characteristics described throughout this document are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job. Many of the job functions are conducted in a remote environment. Work may be executed in a home office, hotels, conference/meeting rooms, campus locations, or other remote areas as needed. Occasionally, onsite presence in Chicago may be required for team/corporate events.

Other Duties and Accommodations:

The above is intended to describe the general content of and requirements for the performance of this job. It is not to be construed as an exhaustive statement of duties, responsibilities, or physical requirements. Nothing in this job description restricts management’s right to assign or reassign duties and responsibilities to this job at any time. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Come join our EIIA Team Interested candidates should forward a cover letter, resume, and salary requirements to Joe Dudzik at jdudzik@eiia.org

EIIA is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.