Rick Vassar Named ‘2009 Risk Innovator’ by Risk and Insurance Magazine

NewswireToday - /newswire/ - Sterling, VA, United States, 09/16/2009 - Risk and Insurance Magazine, an LRP Publication has announced that Richard G. Vassar, General Manager, Risk Management for Volkswagen Group of America, has been named a 2009 Risk Innovator.


The Risk Innovator Award recognizes winners across different industries who have demonstrated innovation and excellence in risk management. These key individuals see risk differently and have resolved risk-related problems in a unique or innovative way. They view risk not only as a threat, but also as an opportunity for their organizations.

Mr. Vassar is recognized as a guiding force in the risk management community. In 2006, he published his book Hide! Here Comes the Insurance Guy. The book provides business insurance and risk management strategies in an easy to read style that simplifies the process.

Says Vassar: "I … recognized that insurance has its own language, and the book was aimed at being a translator for those with business acumen but who find insurance much too technical to warrant its study."

Several people who know Vassar well said he is the ideal person for breaking down insurance speak into understandable business terms.

Joe Donnelly, senior vice president at Kansas City-based Lockton Companies, LLC, a risk services business manager, said of Vassar: "Rick is a creative risk manager. Many risk managers will sit back and let things run themselves. Rick is more of a mind to take positive action.“

When working with Rick there was never an easy solution," noted Jim Misselwitz, senior account executive and part owner at ECBM, a very large independent broker in the Philadelphia area. "You always had to keep working a project until everybody was fully satisfied but Rick had a way of dissecting a problem that left everybody feeling comfortable."

"Rick is one of those guys who, when bombs are going off all around you, has a way of being calm, of staying focused on the end game. He had a level of knowledge such that he could communicate at any level in the corporation.”

Risk & Insurance® (riskandinsurance.com) provides business executives and insurance professionals with the insight, information and strategies they need to mitigate challenging business risks.