Charlotte Hedemark became President of FERMA yesterday 16 October at an official handover ceremony which took place at the FERMA Seminar 2023 in Antwerp, Belgium.
In her first address to the FERMA members as President, Hedemark highlighted the strategic priorities for the Federation for 2024-2025. These include enhancing FERMA’s advocacy capabilities, strengthening its leadership position and elevating the value of risk management, and making the Federation more agile and dynamic.
“We want to expand our advocacy capabilities,” she told Seminar delegates, “by developing partnerships with other EU professional or sectorial associations, and inside EU institutions. We want to tap into even more expertise and knowledge and increase the involvement of the national risk associations in our advocacy work.”
Commenting on bolstering the standing of the risk management profession, Hedemark said: “We want to cement FERMA’s position as a risk leader and emphasise the value that we bring. We will focus on strategic foresight and work with high-level experts from various fields to gain insight on emerging topics.” She also stated that the Federation would promote “a new vision for global risk management”, while supporting education and training to “elevate the standing of the profession and attract new talent”.
With FERMA’s 50th anniversary taking place in 2024, Hedemark said: “We will ensure that we remain relevant, and that FERMA is an agile, dynamic federation in this time of risk evolution and transition,” adding that it will look to “enhance our reputation as a knowledge resource for individual risk managers and national associations and increase our dialogue with you.”
Encouraging delegates to “watch this space”, she closed her address by stating: “We embark on this strategic journey with the following slogan: Connect, Influence, Empower.”
Earlier in the handover ceremony, Dirk Wegener concluded his four-year term as President focusing his speech on the considerable progress that FERMA had made during that period in boosting its visibility at the EU level, strengthening its network, and raising the profile of risk management.
“FERMA has become much more impactful and effective in its advocacy work,” he told delegates. “I would like to thank our members for their active engagement in our committees and working groups. This strengthens our expertise and the value we provide, both of which are recognised by the European institutions.”
He also took the opportunity to thank FERMA’s partners in the insurance industry. Highlighting the sometimes tense but increasingly collaborative relationship the Federation has with the insurance sector in these challenging times of multiple crises, he said: “We have cooperated with the insurance industry on regulatory issues and crucially ways to support risk transfer and I am sure FERMA will continue to increase dialogue and take concrete action on key issues for the insurance and risk management communities.” He added: “We believe we are stronger together – in the good times and the challenging times.”
He concluded: “I leave my role as President with FERMA in a strong position – and I am passing the baton on to Charlotte, knowing that the future of FERMA is in extremely capable hands”.
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