Welcoming the new Co-Presidents of IIRSM

The International Institute of Risk and Safety Management (IIRSM) has appointed IIRSM Trustee and Fellow Rosie Russell as Co-President to lead and represent its global community of risk and safety professionals.

Rosie joins President Ruth Denyer, who will now share the role for a further year as a Co-President.

Rosie is Environment, Health and Safety Lead at MeiraGTx, a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing potentially curative treatments for patients living with serious diseases.

In her four years with the company, Rosie has made great strides in improving employee mental health and wellbeing, as well as having developed and implemented a global EHS management system.

She has played a fantastic part in the IIRSM community to date, having been Secretary of the East of Scotland Branch, Chair of the Membership and Branches Committee and Chair of the Fellowship Approvals Panel, before becoming an IIRSM Trustee and Member of Council two years ago.

She said: “I am delighted to have the opportunity to join Ruth in leading IIRSM and ensuring that we contribute positively to the risk management profession.

“We represent many different disciplines and collectively contribute to society across the globe. We have strong values and our community can influence at the highest level. I especially look forward to working with our membership and the branches network to ensure that IIRSM can tackle issues at a local, national and global level.

“Given that globally a worker dies every 14 seconds and society is regularly impacted by man-made and natural disasters, our profession and our membership are needed to reduce risk and increase resilience in every walk of life.”

The appointments were confirmed by the Trustees at the annual general meeting (AGM), following members’ approval of a change to governance documents which have allowed Ruth to stay on for a third year as a Co-President, rather than ending her term after two years.

Ruth, also Director of Production Safety at Netflix, said: “I’m excited to work with Rosie to take forward IIRSM’s new strategy and continue to build our impact and deliver on our objectives over the next few years. My fellow Trustees and I have all been involved in different ways to support IIRSM and the work we do is certainly a group effort.

“I am proud of the values held by IIRSM and of the work done in getting our new direction finalised this year, making IIRSM fit for the future.”

The joint appointment means Rosie and Ruth will share chairing duties for IIRSM’s Council, which is responsible for the management and overall strategic direction of the organisation in conjunction with CEO Phillip Pearson.

Phillip said: “I’m delighted with the Trustees’ choice of Rosie as Co-President. It is welcome recognition for the support she has given to IIRSM and my team for several years. I consider myself very fortunate in having two excellent Co-Presidents to work with to further the growth of IIRSM.”

At the AGM, experienced Chartered Accountant Courtney Tree was co-opted as a Trustee on IIRSM Council for one year.