URMIA Matters

In this episode of URMIA Matters, URMIA President Miguel Delgado is joined by the Officers of the URMIA Board of Directors to share highlights from the 2026 Annual Business Meeting. This episode provides members with an update on the association’s current initiatives, financial position, and strategic priorities. Listeners will hear reports from the president and other board officers, along with u...

In this episode of URMIA Matters, host Julie Groves of Wake Forest University speaks with Sypress Davis, Becky Donovan, and Karen Kruppa, tri-chairs of URMIA’s Belonging Committee, about the critical connection between belonging, campus culture, and effective risk management. The conversation explores how fostering environments where students, faculty, and staff feel seen, valued, heard, and suppo...

In this episode of URMIA Matters, host Caitlin Cai sits down with Ashley Caldwell of Gannon University and former student intern Tomoki Kouchi to explore the impact of URMIA’s Be the Change Student Internship program. Together, they share how the program created a meaningful, 13-week risk management internship with funding from URMIA’s Be the Change Internship program. They discuss how that allowe...

In this episode of URMIA Matters, host Julie Groves sits down with Honors Committee members Elaine Del Rossi and Jabari Lewis to introduce URMIA’s new Risk Hero Spotlight, a recognition designed to celebrate the everyday champions of higher education risk management. The conversation explores why the award was created, who is eligible, and how it shines a light on the often unseen individuals acro...

In this episode of URMIA Matters, guest host Caitlin Cai from the University of Tennessee is joined by Lavern Miles and Kathy Peeling from the University of Maryland, College Park, and Melanie Bennett from United Educators for a focused, practical conversation on Enterprise Risk Management for those just starting out. The episode presents ERM as a shared, ongoing process for identifying, prioritiz...

In this third and final episode of our mini‑series honoring the 2025 Distinguished Risk Manager Award recipients, guest host Miguel Delgado, Carnegie Mellon University, sits down with award‑winner David Parker, Pima Community College, to explore his remarkable and unconventional path into risk management. From early days as a school‑bus mechanic to accident reconstruction with law enforcement and...

In the second installment of our three‑part mini‑series celebrating the 2025 Distinguished Risk Manager Award recipients, URMIA Matters turns the microphone toward one of its own: longtime host and newly honored DRM, Julie Groves of Wake Forest University. In this insightful conversation, Julie reflects on her unexpected path into risk management—from an English major to having three insurance fol...

In this first installment of a three‑part mini‑series honoring the 2025 Distinguished Risk Manager (DRM) Award recipients, URMIA Matters highlights the remarkable career and life of Fitzroy Smith, Assistant Vice President, Chief Risk Officer at Howard University, with guest host, Miguel Delgado, current URMIA president and Associate Vice President and Chief Risk Officer at Carnegie Mellon Universi...

In this episode of URMIA Matters, host Julie Groves is joined by Frank Cella and Matt Miller of Marsh to explore the evolving risk landscape in higher education. The discussion dives into demographic shifts, cybersecurity threats, regulatory changes, and the growing complexity of compliance. They also examine financial sustainability, employment practices, liability, the impact of AI on institutio...

In this episode of URMIA Matters, Michelle Smith, URMIA’s Executive Director, interviews Sue Liden, URMIA’s soon to be retired (again!) Education Manger. Join us for a heartfelt conversation as we honor Sue on the eve of her retirement! From her early days in the military to building a proactive risk management program at Pacific Lutheran University, Sue shares inspiring stories of resilience, rei...

In this episode of URMIA Matters, Michelle Smith, URMIA’s Executive Director, sits down with scholarship winners Rowela Lascolette of Hood College and Michelle Powell of Florida Polytechnic University to explore the unique challenges and opportunities of being a solo risk manager in higher education. They share their career journeys, lessons learned from the URMIA Annual Conference in Las Vegas, a...

In this special episode of URMIA Matters, all URMIA members are invited to listen in and hear the latest updates from the URMIA Executive Committee. Join us for a streamlined business meeting that will include a briefing on the Association by the president, a financial report by the treasurer, and other board officer updates. You will also hear about what the URMIA Office has been working on and w...

In this episode of URMIA Matters, Julie Groves, Director of Risk Services at Wake Forest University, hosts an informative conversation with the chairs and co-chairs of the upcoming URMIA Annual Conference: Juan Azcarate, Susie Johnson, Michael Tabije, and Courtney Davis. URMIA’s 56th Annual Conference is taking place in beautiful Las Vegas from October 12–16 this year! Our guests share thoughtful...

Join guest host Michelle Smith, URMIA’s Executive Director, as she interviews Liebe Meier Swain from Cornell University and Phillip Arrington from HUB International, who discuss how access to healthcare, especially mental health services, is linked to higher graduation rates. They highlight legislative changes, including Medicaid cuts and Affordable Care Act revisions, which may disproportionately...

Join guest host Michelle Smith, URMIA’s Executive Director, as she interviews four of URMIA’s newest staff members: Carrie Burnett, Project Specialist; Bowen Murphy, IT Manager; Ruth Rauluk, Resource Manager; and Adam Sieracki, Marketing Specialist. Tune in as Michelle interviews URMIA’s four newest staffers about their journey with URMIA so far and what surprised them most about our association!...

Join guest host Jenny Whittington, former Executive Director of URMIA, on this episode of URMIA Matters as she welcomes two distinguished guests: Eno Oregbesan, Director of Risk Management at Rice University, and Kathy Hargis, Associate Vice President of Risk Management and Compliance at Lipscomb University. Both guests share their extensive involvement with URMIA, highlighting their roles in vari...

In this episode of URMIA Matters, host Julie Groves, Director of Risk Services at Wake Forest University, interviews Heather Banules, Director of Insurance and Claims Administration, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, Bret Bush, EVP, Field Operations, Insight Risk Technologies, and Ted Way, Senior Vice President, Gallagher. Together, they tackle the crucial topic of water damage prevention on hig...

In this special episode of URMIA Matters, guest host, Craig McAllister , Assistant Vice President, Risk Management, University of Miami, interviews guests Courtney Davis , Executive Vice President, Global Education Practice Leader at Hub International, and Luke Figora , Vice President for Operations at Northwestern University, about their journey into risk management. Courtney and Luke share their...

In this episode of URMIA Matters, host Julie Groves, Director of Risk Services at Wake Forest University, interviews Stevan Veldkamp, Executive Director of the Piazza Center at Penn State, and Lori Hart, Director of Educational Initiatives for Holmes Murphy, about the recent Stop Campus Hazing Act and what needs to be accomplished before the implementation deadline. Stevan and Lori discuss the new...

Tune into this episode of URMIA Matters to hear all about URMIA’s newest community, the YoPros! Host Julie Groves, Director of Risk Services at Wake Forest University, interviews the YoPro community leaders, Michelle Powell, Risk Manager at Florida Polytechnic University, and Kate Miller, Risk Management Analyst at Christopher Newport University, about lessons learned and helpful resources into th...

In this special episode of URMIA Matters, listen in to URMIA's annual business meeting that was presented virtually on September 12, 2024. URMIA leadership gave updates about membership, finances, program participation, progress made on strategic initiatives, and other important updates. Show Notes URMIA Bylaws URMIA Board of Directors 2025 Annual Conference 2025 Call for Sessions 2025 Region...

In this episode of URMIA Matters, Julie Groves, Director of Risk Services at Wake Forest University, interviews Susie Johnson, Risk Management Director at Iowa State University and 2025 Programming Committee Chair, Sue Liden, URMIA’s Education Manager, and Michelle Smith, URMIA’s Executive Director, about URMIA’s upcoming Call for Sessions. Learn how you can submit your content proposal easily and...

In this episode of URMIA Matters, Julie Groves, URMIA’s immediate past-president and Director of Risk Services at Wake Forest University, interviews Lindsay Bond, Executive Director at HEPNet, about her important journey into the realm of youth protection. Lindsay shares how her career path took her from teaching to sports management to being passionate about the protection of minors. Noticing a g...

Now more than ever, the culture, engagement, and performance of your organization matters. In this episode of URMIAmatters, host Julie Groves sits down with Sam Bussard , the director of talent strategy at Compass Business Solutions to talk about the intersection of skill fit and core values alignment of candidates, how to enable recruiting teams to help preserve the organizational culture that yo...

Good governance is a mechanism for leadership to achieve its objectives and make quality decisions. The time to revisit risk management practices and effective governance structures is more important than ever in higher education. In this episode of URMIA Matters, host Julie Groves, Director of Risk Services at Wake Forest University will sit down with Jake Braunsdorf and Cynthia Vitters from Delo...