Zurich shows up strong at RIMS RiskWorld 2025

Zurich made a significant impact at this year’s RIMS RISKWORLD, held in Chicago from May 4-7, 2025. The event, which attracted over 11,000 attendees from more than 70 countries, was themed, “Engage Today. Embrace Tomorrow.”

Zurich’s Presence and Key Announcements

Countless RIMS attendees stopped by Zurich’s information booth, which spotlighted Zurich Multinational’s 50-year anniversary and its legacy of award-winning innovation. Leaders from Zurich North America and Zurich Resilience Solutions engaged in numerous meetings with customers and distributors over the four-day event.

There was also much buzz about the recent announcement by Zurich, Chubb and National Indemnity of a new excess casualty facility that can offer up to 100 million in lead excess casualty insurance capacity on a claims-made basis for large national and multinational companies.

Leading the Conversation: Zurich’s Educational Sessions

Zurich leaders led three RIMS educational sessions on critical topics, including the role of captives in a transitioning market, the growing threat of deep fakes and AI in cyberspace and the evolving risk landscape influenced by the first 100 days of the new Administration.

In the RIMS session, “The new administration and insurance: navigating the first 100 days and beyond,” Deirdre Manna, Head of Government & Regulatory Relations for Zurich North America, outlined some of the current challenges facing the industry in the wake of changes instituted by the new Administration that are impacting the regulatory landscape and public policy. Topics covered by the panel included legal system abuse reform, AI and workforce development. Co-presenters included Daniel Serota, Vice President of Government Affairs and Public Affairs for Aon and Andrew Levy, Chief Corporate and Government Affairs Officer for Accenture.

The cyber education session, “Train like you fight: building cyber resilience,” opened with a deep fake video featuring George Washington, talking about the importance of taking cyber security seriously. Head of Cyber and SpearTip Riccardo Reati created the video to make the point that threats are evolving rapidly with advancements in technologies like deep fakes and AI. Reati outlined steps companies should take to protect themselves, including understanding their specific risk profiles, implementing modern security training for employees, deploying identity threat detection systems and creating incident response plans to ensure a quick response that minimizes damage.

In the session “A Hard Market Isn’t the Only Reason to Put Property Risks in a Captive,” Adriana Scherzinger, Group Head of Captives for Zurich Insurance, and other experts challenged the notion that captives are merely a reaction to market cycles. They highlighted the ability of captives to earn profits through effective risk management and mitigate market cycle uncertainties, which makes them an attractive option to serve as the cornerstone of a company’s risk enterprise strategy. Co-presenters included Ian Ascher from JLL, Sandy Bigglestone from the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation and Michael Serricchio from Marsh Captive Solutions.

Executive Insights and Industry Trends

Over the course of the four-day event, several Zurich leaders met with members of the media in attendance for interviews and relationship-building meetings on topics, including:

• Paul Lavelle, Head of U.S. National Accounts and Bill Chepulis, head of Large Casualty, spoke about casualty and economic dynamics.
• Toby Cushing, Deputy Chief Underwriting Officer, addressed the use of AI.
• Nora Hattauer, Head of Financial Lines, U.S. National Accounts, spoke about D&O.
• Adriana Scherzinger, Group Head of Captives for Zurich Insurance, discussed captives.
• Allen Kirsh, Head of Claims Judicial & Legislative Affairs, addressed legal system abuse and social inflation.
• Kara Higginbotham, Head of Professional Liability and Cyber, spoke about emerging trends in cyber insurance claims.
• Deirdre Manna, Head of Government & Regulatory Relations for Zurich NA, was quoted in a Business Insurance article about the impact the Trump Administration and changes in state laws on risk management.
• CEO Kristof Terryn was quoted from the recent news release by Zurich, Chubb and National Indemnity announcing a new excess casualty facility in a post-RIMS article by The Insurer.

Overall, RIMS RISKWORLD 2025 was marked by a strong sense of optimism and collaboration among industry professionals, despite the ongoing uncertainties in the U.S. commercial insurance market.