2017 Risk All Star: Gillian-Cummings Beck
This Risk Manager Cut Her Weakest Links
Popular retailer Chico’s was undergoing a reduction-in-force across the board, including in the risk management department.
That meant the departure of the company’s VP of risk and global compliance. Gillian Cummings-Beck stepped in and took the lead.
A month and a half later, another team member announced her retirement. That left a team of two running a risk management department responsible for 1,500 stores, 2.5 billion dollars in revenue and 23,000 associates.
More determined than daunted, Cummings-Beck and her teammate evaluated their own strengths as well as the potential resources already within the company.
They found not one, but two people with complementary strengths — a finance expert who would have been affected by the reduction in force, and a safety director working in global compliance.
From there, the reformulated team hit the ground running.
With such a small team tasked with enormous responsibility, Cummings-Beck kept a sharp focus on putting the right external partners in place.
The team’s first major undertaking was to cut ties with a persistently underperforming TPA.
“If you have any kind of a weak link, you need to see if it can be fixed, and if not, change it out,” said Cummings-Beck.
The team is also actively eliminating weak links among the attorneys who represent Chico’s, particularly in historically challenging states such as California, Texas, Louisiana and Florida.
“We give them the first claim and they hit it out of the ballpark or they strike out — there’s really no middle ground,” she said.
Cummings-Beck takes the same decisive approach to all of Chico’s partnerships, including brokers and carriers.
“If the connection’s not there, you know it right away,” she said. “[You have to] listen to that connection, home in on it and see if it’s going to work.”
Other initiatives designed to minimize waste included an overhaul of the company’s certificate of insurance program.
Borrowing an idea she gleaned from GameStop’s Dave Lynch at an industry event, Cummings-Beck worked with Chico’s real estate and legal departments to change COI procedures without alienating landlords. The result? A drop in COIs issued annually from 4,000 to 50, saving both money and man-hours.
“We give them the first claim and they hit it out of the ballpark or they strike out — there’s really no middle ground.” — Gillian Cummings-Beck, Director, Insurance and Risk Management, Chico’s FAS Inc.
Chico’s also secured a premium reduction of 20 percent. That goes back to having the right partners, said Cummings-Beck. It’s about having a broker that fully grasps the value of the company, and having a carrier that is willing and able to see the full picture of the company’s risk management diligence.
“It’s really listening to the team — internal and external,” said Cummings-Beck. “Nobody does it alone.”
For as much as all of this sounds like hard work, Cummings-Beck sounds like she’s having a blast.
“It is just a fantastic, phenomenal field,” she said. “When you get to put together the things you love most — taking care of people, taking care of the company from a business perspective, finance and legal all rolled up into one — what more could you ask for?”
Cummings-Beck relates the story of helping an employee who called in to the company’s crisis management hotline after losing her home to a tornado.
“It’s knowing that what you do matters to somebody … I love what we do.” &
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Risk All Stars stand out from their peers by overcoming challenges through exceptional problem solving, creativity, perseverance and passion.
See the complete list of 2017 Risk All Stars.