The alarm bell sounded by the 1930s film Reefer Madness has changed its tune in an America of de facto cannabis legalization based on overwhelming public support. Yet, organizations need answers to the questions that remain: Is cannabis an effective treatment for chronic pain due to workplace injury? If not, what can be done to stop it? How are state laws addressing the issue of payment for cannabis treatment? What happens if the drug is moved from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3 by the federal government? What legal protection do employers have if an employee holds a medical marijuana card?
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The 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) is set to reshape the renewable energy industry through dramatic changes to tax incentives, foreign entity restrictions and regulatory requirements. In this session at RIMS 2026, industry leaders discuss the impact of an accelerated phase-out of renewable tax credits targeting wind and solar projects and of foreign entity of concern (FEOC) restrictions, as well as the resulting widespread disruptions to financing. Speakers included: John Katilus – Managing Director US Property Renewables Placement Leader, Aon Geoffrey Lehv – Senior Vice President, Head of North American Accounts, kWh Analytics Legislative Level Set The Inflation Reduction Act
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In a global, data-driven world, ubiquitous website-tracking technologies have moved to the forefront of class action privacy litigation. At this session at RIMS 2026, a panel of industry experts examines emerging trends and the scope of legal and regulatory exposure arising from these essential marketing and analytics tools. Speakers included: Carolyn Purwin Ryan – Partner & Co-Chair, Litigation, Mullen Coughlin LLC Devon Acherman – Global Head, DFIR, LevelBlue Dana Cuoco – Assistant Vice President, Northeast Cyber Claims Lead, At-Bay Pixel Tracking Security & Privacy Assessment A key component of managing these risks is conducting a comprehensive pixel tracking security and privacy assessment.
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Even if your vendors do not offer a specific artificial intelligence (AI) product or service, there is a good chance they license AI tools from another party. The proliferation of this technology has prompted new and modified terms and conditions in many vendor contracts. In this session at RISKWORLD® 2026, experts identified the evolving legal risks presented by a vendor’s use of AI and explained how to enhance vendor due diligence by asking the right AI risk-related questions. Speakers included: John Koch, General Counsel, Insurance Counseling and Recovery at Flaster Greenberg PC Peter Wakiyama, Chair: Artificial Intelligence, Privacy, and Cyber
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Clear communication, cross-functional collaboration, and aligned priorities enable the risk function to gain traction, influence outcomes, and drive meaningful progress. This session at RISKWORLD® 2026 explored how to achieve strong leadership advocacy that elevates the impact of risk management across an organization. Speakers included: Eric Tilles, Deputy General Counsel at Arkema, Inc. Wendy Conroy, Senior Manager Insurance and Risk Management at Arkema, Inc. Effective leadership support partnered with the right communication approach can transform the role of risk management from operational necessity to a strategic driver in each organization. To establish a shared purpose with internal stakeholders, everyone must understand
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Autonomous vehicles will improve road safety and reduce injuries, death, and property damage. However, casualty and liability trends show that average claim size is increasing due to several factors. In this session at RISKWORLD® 2026, stakeholders involved in the subrogation of such losses highlighted why these related trends need to be on everyone’s radar. Speakers included: David Thornhill, Senior Vice President of Commercial Claims at CSAA Insurance Group, a AAA Insurer Ashton Kirsch, Shareholder at Matthiesen, Wickert & Lehrer, S.C. Autonomous collisions and associated claims will change with the implementation of autonomous vehicles. The industry is seeing new issues when
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This session at RIMS 2026 dove into some of the biggest risk challenges public entities face and how to work through them. Speakers included: Billy Deeb – Director of Public Entities, Aon Rob Roscoe – Deputy Director, Washington Cities Insurance Authority Tyrone Spears – Chief – Workers’ Compensation Division, City of Los Angeles Personnel Department Mark Walls – Chief Marketing Officer, Safety National Q: What law enforcement liability trends are you experiencing? Tyrone: This topic is an everyday conversation. It is becoming unsustainable with massive lawsuits, some of which are the result of previous civil unrest events. There are daily police pursuits in L.A.
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For large organizations, the stakes are too high to approximate commercial insurance limits, true exposure coverage, or a comparison against competitors’ programs. In this session at RISKWORLD® 2026, brokerage and risk management experts highlighted what to look and ask for based on a framework for evaluating your advisors. Speakers Included: Jim Blinn, Vice President, Client Solutions at Zywave Stephen Westcott, Senior Director, Casualty Broker & Analytics Leader – Northeast Region at WTW Jeff Cohen. Senior Vice President, Industry Relations at Zywave Christie Weinstein, Senior Director, Risk Management, Solstice Advanced Materials, Inc. Organizations are constantly coming up with new data. If
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Construction risk looks very different depending on where you sit. This session at RIMS 2026 explored emerging risk management and insurance issues through the distinct lenses of the project owner, general contractor, and subcontractor. Panelists examined how competing priorities and incentives shape decision-making around construction risk programs. Speakers included: Cheryl Berman – Risk Manager, Brady West, Inc. Ann Parnigoni – Chief Risk Director, BNBuilders Scott Ritto – Kilroy Realty Corporation Construction Insurance Programs (CIP) A centralized insurance program is used on construction projects to provide coverage for multiple parties under a single policy structure. Instead of each contractor and subcontractor carrying their own
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What’s happening in the unfolding dynamics of the global reinsurance market? In this session at RIMS 2026, Dan Hoffmeiser, Director at AM Best, reviewed the attractive market conditions, despite modest declines in risk-adjusted pricing for property catastrophe covers. Attendees considered whether disciplined underwriting, with terms, conditions and attachment points largely intact, will last and the key drivers that could shift that outlook. Market Segment Outlook Revised to Stable from Positive – Headwinds Accelerated softening in property reinsurance pricing in, accompanied by modest relation of some terms and conditions. Persistent social inflation and corresponding historical reserve and pricing insufficiency in certain large
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