Judging process

The judging process is rigorous and thorough to ensure that all the entries receive full consideration and that the true winners are chosen.  A panel of industry professionals are involved in two separate judging stages.

Judges will take part in a judging conference call, where the winners will be decided, with one expert per category who will be asked to summarize and provide additional input.

Judges have the discretionary power to move submissions into alternative categories that they think may be more suitable.  All judges are required to sign a disclaimer form to keep information about companies and the final winners confidential. 

Only performance, activity and initiatives between April 1 2013 and March 31 2014 will be taken into consideration by the judges.

PLEASE NOTE: Judges do not judge any categories that their company has been entered in and are obliged to declare that they have no conflicts of interest prior to judging.

The judging panel

The panel of expert judges are carefully selected for their wealth of experience and expertise, as well as their absence of conflicts of interest.  Here are the confirmed judges to date. More judges will be added here shortly.

John S. Alberici Chairman Alberici Corporation Mr. Alberici is one of the presenters for Workshop M3, "Green and Lean—Construction Trends and Challenges," on Monday. He is chairman of Alberici Corporation, the 47th largest contractor in North America. Mr. Alberici is past chair of the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of St. Louis. He is a longtime member and past chair of the Risk Management and the Surety committees of the AGC of America. He has been a member of the Board of Trustees of Saint Louis University and over the span of 25 years chaired their Building and Grounds and the Human Resources committees. Mr. Alberici is a past chair of the Vermont Captive Insurance Association and is a frequent speaker at insurance and construction venues. He is also a spokesman for sustainable (green) construction. His corporate headquarters has received numerous environmental awards including the USGBC's LEED Platinum designation in 2005.

Colin M. Donovan Vice President STICO Mutual Insurance Company Colin Donovan serves as the Vice President of STICO Mutual Insurance Company, A Risk Retention Group which specializes in general liability, pollution liability, and contractual liability insurance for over 115 storage tank manufacturers, pressure vessel fabricators and petroleum equipment contractors throughout the country. At STICO Mutual, Colin oversees the underwriting, marketing, reinsurance placement and investment management. Colin earned his B.S. in Marketing and B.S. in Mass Communications from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio in 1995 and earned his M.B.A., with Distinction, from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois in 2002.  He also earned his Associate in Captive Insurance from the ICCIE program in 2008.

Emily Cummins Director of Tax and Risk Management National Rifle Association Emily Cummins (MBA, CPA, CPCU, CISSP) is Director of Tax and Risk Management for the National Rifle Association and its affiliates.  Emily’s industry presentations include Advisen, American Society of Association Executives, Business Insurance, NetDiligence, RIMS, and Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics.  She speaks most often on cyber risk, museums, fundraising, and fiduciary and tax matters.  Prior to her years in-house with the NRA, Emily worked for Wachovia (Wells Fargo) and Ernst & Young.

Michael Lusk Vice President, Insurance and Risk Management Archer Daniels Midland Company Michael Lusk is vice president, Insurance and Risk Management, at Archer Daniels Midland Company. Lusk joined ADM in 1999 after a 25-year tenure with International Risk Management, Inc., where he most recently served as senior vice president, Risk Advisory Services.  He began his career as a Fire Protection Engineer at Factory Insurance Association.   Lusk is certified as a Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter and an Associate in Risk Management. He holds a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering from Tufts University in Medford, Mass., and an MBA from the University of Texas at Dallas.  He has served as chairman of the board of directors for both Vermont Captive Insurance Association (VCIA) and the Captive Insurance Companies Association (CICA).

Michael Bemi President & CEO National Catholic Risk Retention Group, Inc Mr. Bemi has over 39 years of experience and achievements in the insurance industry. He is President and CEO of The National Catholic Risk Retention Group, Inc. and he is President of its wholly owned subsidiary management company, National Catholic Services, LLC, and also, its subsidiary claims management and risk control services affiliate, NCS Risk Services, LLC. He holds the Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter (CPCU), Associate in Risk Management (ARM) and Associate in Reinsurance (ARe) Professional Designations.

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