Risk Management and Reputational Resilience Services
We work with both Publicly Traded and Private Corporations
SERVING CLIENTS THROUGH BOTH THEIR LEGAL ADVISORS AND REPUTATION INSURANCE MANAGING GENERAL AGENCIES, WE HELP COMPANIES DESIGN AND IMPLEMENT REPUTATION RESILIENCE STRATEGIES.
Denise M. Williamee
Owner / CEO
Contact us and find how our services can benefit your company!
Contact us:
TEL: 907.987.4475 or 907.987.4475
Publications
Topically-relevant articles published and co-authored with the occasional unpublished Op-Ed.
Beware the Sirens of Environmental, Social and Governance Investing
Best's Review 5/4/21 with Nir Kossovsky
Boosting ESG without understanding and carefully considering who stakeholders are, what they expect and how their potential disappointment might be expressed is a tactical path to a reputational liability.
ESG Efforts Push Reputational Risk Mitigation to Corporate Counsel to-Do List
Bloomberg Law 12/3/20 with Nir Kossovsky
"Corporate lawyers need to educate clients on emerging risks associated with reputational damage and help them develop protocols for mitigating those risks, say Steel City Re’s Nir Kossovsky and Denise Williamee. Corporate expectations are rising, given the race for pledges on environmental sustainability, social justice, and responsible governance (ESG) efforts."
Risk Management Frameworks Can’t Handle (the Truth About) Reputation Risk
Global Banking & Finance Review 9/3/20 with Nir Kossovsky
“Companies that employ a team to go above and beyond the traditional ERM model, and anticipate and address 21st century risks, will see tangible, financial benefits such as preferential equity investment allocations, bond ratings, and liability insurance costs. And with Reputation Insurance as the executive summary of superior ERM – simple, easy to understand, completely credible, and prepositioned like FDIC coverage nearly a century ago—the enhanced reputations will help preserve value and accelerate recovery.”
A Bad Reputation Is a Governance Risk
Directors & Boards 8/21/20 with Nir Kossovsky
Reputation risk management is strategic governance, leadership, controls and insurance.
In overseeing and monitoring…reputational risks, (A Board should) consider deploying its own mechanism — an integrated reputation governance (IRG) committee.
The Food and Beverage Industries Need a Reputation Risk Management Overhaul
Food & Beverage Magazine 8/12/20 with Nir Kossovsky
“The entire current apparatus—governance, leadership, processes and insurances—is not engineered to mitigate the greatest risk to the value of an enterprise, which is reputation risk. And what exactly is reputation risk? It is the widespread economic damage from a maelstrom of frightened, mistrustful and angry stakeholders triggered by a real or perceived corporate failure of ethics, safety, security, sustainability, quality or innovation.”
Risking It All
Captive Insurance Times - Article Reported by Maria Ward-Brennan 7/22/20 (contributor)
Due to the powers of social media, business reputation can easily be damaged in a matter of hours. Increasingly companies are looking to a captive for reputational risk coverage, industry experts reveal.
Entering the Reputation Risk Management and Insurance Marketplace: A Solution for 2020
Journal Of Reinsurance / IRUA 7/9/20 with Peter Gerken
This article demonstrates how Reputation Risk Insurance, approached on a parametric basis, can profitably counteract the multiple negative effects of the current hardening P&C insurance market while also providing reliably profitable future gains once the current market has stabilized.
Board Diversity Helps Recognize and Avoid Reputational Risks
Profiles in Diversity Journal 10/7/20 with Nir Kossovsky
Reputational crises are nasty, brutish, and enduring. To deploy the type of reputational risk management apparatus needed today, companies must understand the expectations of ever-changing and diverse groups of stakeholders, and stay attuned to constantly shifting cultural trends that pose enterprise-wide risks and require a response from corporate America.
Promises, Promises: Navigating the Reputational Risks of ESG Investment Pledges
Global Banking & Finance Review 1/12/21 with Nir Kossovsky
As the trend towards ESG investment and a low-carbon economy continues, banks are being backed into a reputational corner. Law firms specializing in representing the expanding pool of litigious shareholders are salivating.
See How Apollo Global Management’s Success at Reputation Risk Management Is a Story to Emulate
Risk & Insurance with Nir Kossovsky 3/30/21
We’re in one of those rare moments in history when risk managers have an opportunity to make something good happen.. Rare is the insurance professional who truly believes there is an upside to risk.
Pinterest Discrimination Case Highlights Risk Of ESG Pledges
Law360 12/10/20 with Nir Kossovsky
A shareholder derivative lawsuit filed Nov. 30 naming the board of directors and top executives of Pinterest Inc., is part of a trend that is unique to this era of social justice pledges — where the actions and statements of companies themselves is placing individual corporate leaders at risk.
Stake Your Reputation
Captive Insurance Times with Nir Kossovsky & Peter Gerken January 2022, Issue 239
Nir Kossovsky, Denise Williamee and Peter Gerken of Steel City Re discuss the development of reputational risk, including current trends, how a captive can provide cover, and the specific challenges in insuring this risk.
MyPillow guy’s bank viewed him as a reputational risk. Was he?
American Banker w/Nir Kossovsky 2/7/22
Recently, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell shared that Minnesota Bank & Trust and its parent company Heartland Financial USA told him that they no longer wanted to do business with him. Lindell, a prominent supporter of former President Donald Trump, said Minnesota Bank & Trust asked him to close his accounts after the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol subpoenaed his telephone records.
Restoring Trust Around ESG Initiatives Through Process
NACD BoardTalk w/Nir Kossovsky 2/1/22
The reputation risk du jour is the trifecta of environmental stewardship, social justice, and dutiful governance (ESG). To the board members of companies touting their ESG initiatives as a way of building their brands and attracting investors to preempt this risk, we want to stress: A lot of people simply don’t believe you. The lack of trust is eroding your brand and your reputation is at risk.
The solution? One word: process.