Recap: Spencer-RIMS 2025 Student Risk Management Challenge
Congratulations to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for achieving first place in the 2025 Student RM Challenge!
The Student Risk Management Challenge is a 7-month-long competition for students, where university teams compete to develop and present a comprehensive risk management program based on a company’s case study. In 2025, 244 students across 61 university teams participated in the Challenge. The student teams represented 16 different countries: Australia, Bermuda, Canada, China, Germany, Ghana, India, Lesotho, Nepal, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and USA. Thirty-eight of the teams were first-time applicants, and nine of the universities were Minority-Serving Institutions (MSIs). Based on the solutions they developed for the case study, the top eight teams were invited to present their strategies at the 2025 RIMS RISKWORLD Conference in Chicago, IL, USA.
1st Place University: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Team Name: Loss Aversion
Student Team Members:
Grace Dai
Hatatu Killeen
Noah Oachs
Josh Schaefer
University Representative: Carl Barlett
2025 Judging Committee:
Pamela Bradshaw – Director, Risk and Safety at Upbound Group
Kristy Coleman – Director of Risk Management at Warner Bros. Discovery
Adam Ennamli – Chief Risk Officer at General Bank of Canada
Cynthia Garcia – Chief Risk Officer at Bernards
Cristian Iglesias – Manager, Risk Services at The Cheesecake Factory Inc.
Tyler Vaughan – Insurance Risk Analyst at Avery Dennison
2025 RM Challenge Statistics
244 Student Participants
61 University Teams
38 First-Time University Applicants
16 Countries
9 Minority-Serving Institutions (USA)
2025 RM Challenge Top 8 Teams
DePauw University | Greencastle, IN, USA
Institute of Insurance and Risk Management | Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Saint Joseph's University | Philadelphia, PA, USA
Tribhuvan University | Kathmandu, Bagmati, Nepal
University of New South Wales | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
University of South Africa | Pretoria, Gauteng, South Africa
University of Wisconsin-Madison | Madison, WI, USA
University of the Witwatersrand | Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa
2025 RM Challenge News Articles
Click here to read the RIMS press release announcing the 2025 Top 8 University teams.
Click here to read the RIMS press release announcing the 2025 winning team.
Click here to read the FM article capturing the 2025 case study and competition process.
Click here to read the Business Insurance article capturing the presentation stages of the 2025 competition.
2025 RM Challenge Photo Galleries
Review and download photos of the top eight teams at RISKWORLD 2025 in Chicago, IL, USA.
Review and download photos from the top three team presentations that took place at RISKWORLD 2025 in Chicago, IL, USA.
2025 RM Challenge University Participants
Appalachian State University | USA
Bermuda College | Bermuda
Boston University | USA
Botho University | Lesotho
Bowling Green State University | USA
Brenau University | USA
California State University, Fullerton | USA
The College Of St. Scholastica | USA
DePauw University | USA
Drake University | USA
Durban University of Technology | South Africa
Eastern Kentucky University | USA
Effat University | Saudi Arabia
Ekiti State University | Nigeria
Ernest Bai Koroma University of Science & Technology (EBKUST) | Sierra Leone
Federal University, Dutse | Nigeria
Florida State University | USA
Georgia State University | USA
Illinois State University | USA
The Institute of Finance Management | Tanzania
Institute of Insurance and Risk Management (IIRM) Hyderabad | India
Kyambogo University | Uganda
Lagos State University | Nigeria
Le Moyne College | USA
Mercy University | USA
Milpark Education | South Africa
Milton Margai Technical University | Sierra Leone
Missouri State University | USA
Morgan State University | USA
National Insurance Academy, Pune | India
Nelson Mandela University | South Africa
Peking University | China
Saint Joseph's University | USA
St. Mary's University | USA
St. Xavier's College (Autonomous), Kolkata | India
Tribhuvan University | Nepal
University of Alabama | USA
University of Calgary | Canada
University of Cape Coast | Ghana
University of Colorado Denver | USA
The University of Georgia | USA
University of Ghana | Ghana
University of Hamburg | Germany
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | USA
University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) | China
University of Iowa | USA
University of Jos | Nigeria
University of Lagos | Nigeria
University of Makeni | Sierra Leone
University of New South Wales (UNSW) | Australia
University of North Texas | USA
The University of Olivet | USA
University of Professional Studies, Accra | Ghana
University of South Africa (UNISA) | South Africa
University of Southern California | USA
University of Texas at Austin | USA
The University of Texas at Dallas | USA
University of the Witwatersrand (WITS) | South Africa
University of Uyo | Nigeria
University of Wisconsin-Madison | USA
Walter Sisulu University | South Africa
QUESTIONS?
Email our Director of External Engagement, Tandeka Nomvete, with any questions.