Congratulations to the Appalachian State “RIMS Challenge” team, comprised of students Madison Browne (team captain), Omar Gonzalez, Ben Kolodny and Addisyn Sharkey and faculty advisor Lori Medders. The team has advanced to the competition finals to be held April 10th-13th in San Francisco, CA, where they will compete with seven other finalist teams to decide who wins the international 2022 RIMS Spencer Risk Management Challenge.
Sponsored by the Spencer Educational Foundation, the RIMS Challenge is an eight-month long international competition, where university teams compete to develop and present the most comprehensive enterprise risk management program based on one company case. After receiving the case study (for 2022, Starbucks Corporation), teams conduct research to identify, analyze and prioritize company risks, and recommend treatments for these risks. During the first round, a panel of enterprise risk management professionals judge the teams’ submitted risk reports and select the top eight scoring teams. These eight teams present their findings at the RIMS 2022 Annual Conference & Exhibition to another panel of enterprise risk management professionals and are again scored. The top three teams present again to the full conference in attendance and are recognized during the conference finale. The full judging panel selects the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place international winners at that time.
When asked about their strengths, Dr. Lori Medders, faculty advisor to the team said “this team has a particularly strong strategic thinking mindset. Individually and collectively, these are all sharp analytical thinkers, and so I think that their recommendations are going to be well thought out and sound. I have a lot of confidence in them.”
There were dozens of schools from around the world that competed. Each team submitted an enterprise risk management executive report on Starbucks Corporation, outlining what they saw as priority risks and recommendations for how best to treat the risks. The 8 competitors (invited to RIMS Conference to compete in person) are:
Appalachian State University
Peking University
St Mary's University
University of Fudan
University of Georgia
University of Hartford
University of Southern California
- University of Wisconsin-Madison
Good luck team, we hope to see you shine at the competition!
About the Brantley Risk & Insurance Center
The Brantley Risk & Insurance Center enhances the academic experience of business students at Appalachian State University by providing space and staff to assist with networking, job placement preparation and contact with faculty members outside the classroom. It provides students opportunities to participate in professional designation and licensing programs and invites industry leaders to participate in classes and speak to student organizations. It also fosters research and faculty development, assists the insurance industry in the design and delivery of continuing education programs, and helps educate the public about the insurance industry. Learn more at https://insurance.appstate.edu.
