Volkswagen Risk Manager Named '2009 Risk Innovator'

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.

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Manufacturing

Richard G. Vassar

General Manager, Risk Management
Volkswagen Group of America Inc.
Herndon, Va.


Laughter and creativity guide Volkswagen's risk manager, who knows how to bring risk management to those around him.

Given the title of a nicely selling book about giving the insurance industry a little comeuppance you might think it was written by Public Citizen, a public advocacy group started by Ralph Nader.

The title of the book, "Hide! Here Comes the Insurance Guy: Understanding Business and Risk Management" in fact, belongs to Richard G. Vassar, general manager, risk management at Herndon, Va.-based Volkswagen Group of America Inc.

The journey of Vassar's book from idea to rolling off the press is a real saga. After Vassar talked to more book publishers than he cares to remember, he decided to take a bold step: enter the world of print-on-demand, wherein he would foot the bill for every book sold, title by title.

It was a good gamble. With some promotional help from RIMS and speaking engagements, as well as a number of favorable reviews, he knew his approach of simplifying substantial insurance concepts with touches of humor here and there was catching on. That was July of 2006.

Within a year or so about 1,200 print-on-demand copies had been sold.

So in November of last year, in addition to the print-on-demand title, Vassar's publisher, iUniverse, launched a traditional title of the same name and has sold about 300 copies since then. The books are available through the publisher and Amazon.com.

Vassar wrote the book principally for midsize and smaller companies at which the risk manager often wears other hats as well.

Said Vassar: "I wrote the book because most organizations lack the basic knowledge of risk management and insurance. Many look at insurance as a 'necessary evil' and do not know how to take a proactive approach to reducing losses, which in turn reduces insurance costs.

"I also 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."

Vassar said the current target reader for "Hide!" is a larger business audience. "What I've learned working in Corporate America is that when you walk into the CFOs office you've got to speak like they do--in numbers. If you go in talking insurance language then you're not going to get buy-in."


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BREAKING IT DOWN

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 construction 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.

"He works very closely with his broker. Then he takes a very aggressive role in dealing with the market. He can be a challenge to work with at times--but for all the right reasons. I enjoy working with him."

Added Donnelly: "Rick is well versed in his field. He knows what he wants, but at the same time he is easy going. In a business/social situation he is very comfortable; he is well spoken and a genuinely nice guy."

"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. Rick also knew how to stay on task. If somebody came and said, 'We've got to this and we've got to do it now,' he would put it in a place it belonged and come back to it at the appropriate time. He always served the company first."

Throughout the years, Vassar has consistently realized a 20 percent first-year cost improvement and maintained or improved on those numbers for every corporation where he's worked more than 20 years: 15 years at Thrifty Car Rental, Inc.; five years at Valcourt Building Services and in the past year at Volkswagen Group of America.

--By Steve Yahn