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Stuart Ruff-Lyon with (left to right) Allison McMannus, Kris Wolcott, and second row: Tricia Montero, Kamy Persaud, and Victoria Novickis.
When a group of PCMA members came together in Chicago for a design lab in the fall of 2023 to evaluate the annual Visionary Awards program, one key question emerged: Why only honor solo acts at the celebration? After all, imagining a bold future and blazing the trail to get there rarely happens without the creative energy and logistical expertise of others.
In 2025, innovation isn’t purely an individual story. For the first time in decades of Visionary Awards history, the PCMA Foundation accepted group nominations in three Professional Excellence Award categories — Impact Award, Experience Design of the Year, and Digital Experience Strategist of the Year — to acknowledge the efforts of many that fuel groundbreaking achievements.
“By introducing team and group nominations, we’re honoring the collective brilliance, creativity, and dedication that drive our industry forward,” said Meredith Rollins, PCMA’s chief community officer and executive director of the PCMA Foundation. “This enhancement ensures that the people behind the most impactful experiences — whether from one organization or across multiple — receive the recognition they deserve.”
Before the ceremony on April 10 in Washington, D.C., Stuart Ruff-Lyon, chief events and sales officer, RIMS (Risk & Insurance Management Society), shared how becoming a finalist for Experience Design of the Year was very much a team effort.
Creating the Best Show Ever, Every Time
Each year, when Stuart Ruff-Lyon and his core team of nine event professionals look ahead to the organization’s annual gathering of approximately 10,000 risk management leaders, they share one three-word philosophy: Best RISKWORLD ever. “Every year is the best one ever because it has to be,” Ruff-Lyon told Convene. “There is no resting on the laurels.”
Ruff-Lyon’s team includes some veterans who can look back at quite a few of those second-to-none experiences and some with less-crowded rearview mirrors. “Our team includes employees who have more than 40 years of work at RIMS and are probably approaching retirement to people in their 20s,” he said. “We have people from all backgrounds.” [Those not on the team pictured above are Theresa Medina, Blanca Ferreris, Karina Evelyn, and Ted Donovan.]
One common thread that stretches across the entire team: They feel comfortable offering another approach to the design process. “I like to be challenged,” Ruff-Lyon said. “Just because I say something doesn’t mean it’s right or there’s not a better way of doing it. We have a relationship that allows us to make sure we’re making decisions that are best for RISKWORLD at all times.”
Those decisions also need to align with the decisions for the organization’s 365-day plan. Ruff-Lyon said that his team worked with RIMS’ HR lead, who oversees diversity and inclusion efforts, to develop a strategy for the 2024 environment at the San Diego Convention Center. To make sure that participants could find communities within the larger convention, African American, Asian American and Pacific Islander, Latinx, LGBTQIA+, and female risk professionals were all invited to be part of affinity group meet-ups. Additionally, RIMS launched a device-free tranquility zone for neurodivergent attendees.
Ruff-Lyon said RISKWORLD also had its first-ever hearing-impaired keynote address, given by Marlee Matlin, a Deaf actress and activist for disabled individuals. “We really strived to make sure the entire event design experience was for everyone,” he said.
And no matter where attendees felt most at home in the environment, they also got a chance to be part of what Ruff-Lyon called “surprise-and-delight moments”: circus-style performers in the registration area, a DJ, an acoustic guitar player, and more. “The general public tends to think of risk management as being boring,” he said. “It’s our job to make sure people understand risk management is a fun and vibrant career.”
In the midst of all that fun, Ruff-Lyon had to do what his own audience does: handle the serious work of managing risks. He said the 2024 edition included a new security plan that locked down the convention center to one access point with magnetometers and bag searches. The team worked together to balance the logistic essentials of stationing security personnel and displaying appropriate signage with a stylish approach to make the show feel welcoming, rather than creating a sense of alarm. It all worked, and on closing day, Ruff-Lyon found himself walking through the convention center, getting a bit nervous about seeing the #bestRISKWORLDever line that would soon begin appearing in team communications to start planning the next edition.
“How are we going to top this next year?” he asked himself. “What are we going to do that’s different? But we always do.”
David McMillin is a former Convene editor and freelance writer.
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