Rochman to Succeed Ryland as IBHS President/CEO

Julie A. Rochman has been named to succeed Harvey G. Ryland as president and CEO of the Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS).

Rochman, currently senior vice president of public affairs at The Glover Park Group (GPG), a Washington-based strategic communication consulting firm, will assume her new duties in mid-November. Ryland, who joined IBHS in 1996, will work with her during the leadership transition through year end, when he will retire from the organization.

Rochman has more than 20 years of public affairs and advocacy experience representing major corporations, research and safety organizations, and issue-based coalitions. She has been both an organization and industry spokesperson – and is frequently consulted and quoted by national print, broadcast and electronic media on a wide variety of topics.

At GPG, Rochman manages a portfolio primarily comprising financial services sector clients. She joined the firm from the American Insurance Association (AIA), a national public policy advocacy organization for property/casualty insurance companies. As senior vice president of public affairs and member of AIA’s management team for six years, Rochman and her staff were responsible for developing and executing integrated communication campaigns to achieve AIA’s public policy goals at both the state and federal levels.

From November 1996 until late 2000, Rochman was vice president of communications for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), where she managed media relations for the IIHS and the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI). Upon leaving the IIHS, Rochman served on the IIHS and HLDI boards of directors for several years. Prior to joining IIHS, Rochman managed federal communications for the Alliance of American Insurers, worked for the Insurance Information Institute, for a public health organization dedicated to preventing drunk driving, at an advertising agency as well as for a global insurance brokerage.

Ryland has been in the field of emergency management for more than 30 years. Before joining IBHS, he served as deputy director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). While there, he worked closely with James Lee Witt, who was then the director of FEMA, to develop a new strategy for emergency management in the United States that emphasized loss reduction through mitigation.

Based in Tampa, Fla., IBHS is a national nonprofit association funded by the insurance industry. It works to reduce the social and economic effects of natural disasters and other property loss events by conducting research and advocating improved construction, maintenance and preparation practices.

Source: IBHS, www.ibhs.org