The National Safety Council (NSC) has designated June as National Safety Month for 2021 and has established a campaign to promote employee safety. The National Safety Council is celebrating their 25th anniversary of National Safety Month throughout the month of June 2021. This annual observance, highlights pressing weekly topics and encourages everyone to prioritize safety from the workplace to anyplace. At Texas PRIMA we believe preventing incidents is crucial to a safe workplace. Please join us in prioritizing safety at work so we can all make it home safe at the end of our day. You can access weekly materials such as short quizzes, podcasts, blogs, videos, webinars and tip sheets.  We hope you will check them out, and share with other employees within your organization.

National PRIMA featured their new President, Melissa Steger from the University of Texas System. We are excited that Melissa has taken this role to represent Texas PRIMA at the national level leading PRIMA in the role of president for 2021/2022.

Ahh the circus.. The big top, filled with daring and entertaining acts around the ring, along with curiosities galore. For the circus to go off without a hitch, performers must engage in countless hours of imagination, preparation, and practice of their craft. Did you notice a ringmaster in action, handling the clown show and producing a seamless circus performance? Spot the newest act that will be the next big attraction? Witness some trick riding, a little tight roping, trapezing, and cannonball catching this year? If so, consider a nomination to recognize and memorialize those members and performances of our very own proverbial circus, where extraordinary acts and accomplishments are celebrated under the big top that is our Texas PRIMA Annual Conference. Both the Risk Professional of the Year and the Rising Star recipients receive complimentary conference registration and one-night hotel accommodations!

The Risk Professional of the Year recognizes an individual who exemplifies excellence, innovation, and commitment to the risk and insurance management field.

The Rising Star Award honors someone with between 2-7 years of professional experience in the public risk and insurance management industry who was exemplified leadership potential, achievement, and professional development.

The Risk Management Program Achievement Award honors programs, projects, or products that are creative and successful, and highlights the success of our public entity organizations.

 Brent Holman, Awards Chair

The Texas PRIMA education committee recently held a virtual risk management seminar focusing on the impacts of COVID-19 called Transitioning Back to Normal. We had 75 attendees throughout the three sessions and learned a lot from the speakers and each other. Many thanks to the speakers and the education committee members who pulled the resources needed to provide this opportunity. The recording is on the webinar page in the member's only area of texasprima.org.

Upcoming Webinars
June 16, 2021, 12:00 PM- 1:00 PM

Box on the Top presented by David Popoff, The Response Group. This webinar will explain the benefits of using the Incident Command System (ICS) to coordinate better and manage emergency response for their entities.

July 14, 2021, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

A Claimant's Right to Privacy presented by Drew Mcghee, Ethos Risk Services. This course will outline the rights to privacy a claimant can expect, along with the rights of the insurance company to perform due diligence when verifying claims. It will identify areas of potential bad faith, and inform adjusters of proper investigative behaviors to ensure the needs and rights of the claimant and the provider are properly met. One hour CE approved.

Belinda Raindl, Education Committee Chair

Congratulations to Cheryl Courson with Mesquite ISD on completing her Certified School Risk Manager (CSRM) designation through the National Alliance for Insurance Education & Research.

Congratulations to Lizette Gomez, MPA, IPMA-SCP on her promotion to Assistant Director of Human Resources within the City of Edinburg.

Congratulations to Nancy McKenzie, AIC, ARM-P on her promotion to the position of Risk Manager for the City of Arlington.

Due to a recent mid-term vacancy, the Texas PRIMA Board has appointed Debby Glass, Director of Risk Management for Northside ISD to fulfill the vacant board term in accordance with the bylaws. Debby was recently honored as the Texas PRIMA 2020 Risk Professional of the Year. Debby manages the Risk Management Department for Northside ISD, the fourth largest school District in Texas. She is responsible for the workers’ compensation claims process, property & casualty, unemployment claims, student accident insurance, RFP processes, Indoor Air Quality, Departmental budget and safety and compliance throughout the District. Under her purview, her staff also conducts accident investigations. Please join the Texas PRIMA Board of Directors in welcoming Debby to her new leadership role.

Sedgwick is a leading global provider of technology-enabled risk, benefits and integrated business solutions.  The company provides a broad range of resources tailored to clients’ specific needs in casualty, property, marine, benefits and other lines.  At Sedgwick, caring counts; through the dedication and expertise of nearly 27,000 colleagues across 65 countries, the company takes care of people and organizations by mitigating and reducing risks and losses, promoting health and productivity, protecting brand reputations, and containing costs that can impact the bottom line. 

Aon plc (NYSE:AON) is a leading global professional services firm providing a broad range of risk, retirement and health solutions. Our 50,000 colleagues in 120 countries empower results for clients by using proprietary data and analytics to deliver insights that reduce volatility and improve performance. Aon has been named repeatedly as the world’s best broker, best insurance intermediary, best reinsurance intermediary, best captives manager, and best employee benefits consulting firm by multiple industry sources.

The Aon Public Sector Practice provides creative and forward-thinking techniques by analyzing how states, cities and other organizations may be affected by risk now, as well thinking ahead 10 years, 20 years and beyond. We work with more than 30 state governments, thousands of local municipalities (including hundreds of counties and cities) and nonprofits. Nationally, the Public Sector Practice has over 400 colleagues who service our diverse client base. These clients include:  airport authorities and commissions; higher education including private, state university systems and community colleges; Native American government gaming/tribe/band/nation; not-for-profit, religious and political organizations; pooling and group purchase; public transit, public convention centers/venues; school systems and other education, state, county, city, town, federal and special district agencies; as well as water, sewer or other public utilities. Learn more about the Public Sector Practice.