The SIR Team

A man of varied interests, Rick is a painter, photographer, long-distance runner, lawyer and statistician, talents that are employed in his work every day. He succeeds in finding solutions for problems that lack clear rules, a characterization that can be applied to his 30+ years in the industry as well as in his original career as a metallurgist and nuclear fuels engineer. Little known fact? He holds a patent on a nuclear fuel rod. Rick founded SIR in 1994, and enjoys the diversity and cooperation of the SIR team. He believes that risk management is a team sport and no one person at SIR gets more than 80% of the work done; it’s the combination of SIR talent that defines the company. Rick lives with his family on Shelter Island, between the forks of Long Island, an unspoiled refuge for all kinds of wild life.

Take a look at Rick’s current watercolors, available for download at no charge. Consider a donation to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, one of Rick’s and SIR’s charities of choice.

As SIR’s chief operating officer, Kim ensures the best solutions are being found for SIR clients, and is responsible for overall project management and client relations. A member of the SIR team since 1998, Kim previously worked at transportation company CSX for 20 years, where she developed her analytical and system skills before moving to SIR. Kim thrives on challenge, channeling that energy and ability outside the workplace as a dedicated breeder of show dogs – she is a handler of Westminster and All Breed Best in Show winners. Kim lives in Roswell, Georgia with her family and dogs.

Ira is SIR’s chief troubleshooter and problem-solver, making information and technology accessible and intelligible to SIR customers, crafting creative solutions to complex business problems. He’s been at SIR since 1997, and has worked in risk management his entire career. Some of Ira’s most successful and satisfying projects have ranged from thoughtful data visualizations to complex cost of risk allocation systems for clients. In his spare time, this father of three is an amateur actor, first-baseman and bike rider in Jerusalem, Israel, where he moved with his family in 2006.

BSBA Marketing, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC

Walt brings a broad variety of risk management skills to Shelter Island through over 20 years of Risk Management experience including 11 years with a Fortune 50 retailer. He has a broad understanding of risk analytics as well as extensive experience in Enterprise Risk Management, Information Governance, Business Resilience and integration of Governance, Risk and Compliance activities. Walt also provided thought leadership on Enterprise Risk Management topics to make RIMS a Center of Excellence for ERM education, research and guidance.

The Risk Management challenge today is putting data and technology to work in practical ways. Walt has a history of doing exactly that by leveraging risk information for a variety of business decisions. Walt is an avid woodworker who lives with his wife, children and dogs in North Carolina.

Gary brings 30 years of system implementation knowledge covering corporate, third party administrator and insurer applications. In addition to his technical expertise, Gary has valuable experience in contract negotiation and vendor selection. His work background includes senior management responsibilities at Crawford & Company, KPMG and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

An experienced and successful general manager, Mary Ann is skilled at identifying problems, designing and executing solutions and creating change. For Marsh USA, she developed a major workers’ compensation database that focused on cost-effective, client solutions; at Kemper, she managed an annual budget of over $90 million handling a variety of complex problems. She currently handles special projects at SIR, and lives in Sag Harbor, New York where she’s enjoying the small thrills of village life after years in Manhattan.

Frank joins Shelter Island for special projects. His background and training as a statistician and actuary provides a practical point of view for developing and refining advanced risk financing and actuarial methods. Formerly a vice president at American Re-Insurance Company and statistician at Anistics (Aon), he has consulted to Rick Denning for over 30 years.