Ford exec addresses risk managers

When the director of corporate insurance for the Ford Motor Company addressed members of the Ozarks chapter of the Risk and Insurance Management Society March 7, he focused on risk management issues for companies of all sizes.

In addition to addressing area risk managers, Sobczynski was also the featured speaker for the Breakfast With Champions program and visited with several insurance classes at Southwest Missouri State University during his stay in Springfield.

Dan Sobczynski has worked for Ford, the second largest company in the world, for 23 years. He began as an analyst and worked his way up to director. He oversees a departmental staff of eight in a company whose sales are approaching the $130 billion mark.

"Our goal, at Ford, is to provide quantitative measures for risk so management can make more educated decisions," he said.

Sobczynski added that he believes risk management should to be a part of everyone's job.

His focus is company disasters, which he defined as "the time when a large number of low-probability events occur simultaneously."

Such disasters, he said, teach management a lesson. "They learn that safety is important."

David Layne, president of the Ozarks chapter of the Risk and Insurance Management Society, said it helps chapter members to hear from a high-profile person such as Sobczynski.

"He has opportunities all over the world, which opens our eyes to things we'll never see," he said.

"While he's dealing with bigger premiums than I am and on a larger level, it's still a thrill to hear what kinds of challenges he faces and how he deals with them," Layne added.

Society member Wayne Price is the director of risk management for O'Reilly Auto Parts. He found parallels between his company and Sobczynski's.

"There are some parallels in the two companies because they're both publicly traded," Price said.

"Both companies pay attention to identifying the risk we're willing to take while looking at the potential impact on earnings per share.

"But while Sobczynski is dealing with deductibles of $100 million at Ford, most of the companies here in Springfield don't even have policy limits that go that high," he added.

Sobczynski's trip to Springfield was paid for by a grant from the Spencer Education Foundation, the educational forum of the national chapter of the Risk and Insurance Management Society.