The Risk Management Institution of Australasia (RMIA) has appointed Geoff Crittenden as CEO.

Mr Crittenden has previously worked as business manager for consumer health at Tianda Health and MD at Cynergy Health. He is a former CEO of the Association of Consulting Engineers.

RMIA President and Chairman Bryan Whitefield says Mr Crittenden has considerable experience reinvigorating and modernising organisations and running international conferences.

“He will work with us on rebuilding our membership,” Mr Whitefield told insuranceNEWS.com.au.

The institution now has about 1000 members, but previously had hundreds more.

In recent years RMIA was an outsourced organisation managed by the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance and the Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) Institute.

A merger with the GRC Institute was considered but rejected by the RMIA board last year. The institution then opened a new office in Sydney and started rebuilding.

“Our membership declined when we were outsourced, but we have turned the numbers around already,” Mr Whitefield told insuranceNEWS.com.au. “We are also reconnecting with key industry sectors such as insurance.”

RMIA will host an insurance workshop on risk finance at its Brisbane conference in October, with about 300 delegates expected to attend.

Last year the Risk and Insurance Management Society launched an Australasian chapter, which held its first event in Melbourne in December.

RIMS is a global organisation with something of an insurance focus, backed by its American parent, and RMIA is local, serving a wide range of risk professionals across many industries and government departments, Mr Whitefield said.

“They offer different things and we are not enemies,” he said. “We have offered to work with them.”