Bermuda secured a prominent position in the minds of the 10,000 risk leaders on the first day of the Risk and Insurance Management Society’s conference in Philadelphia.

Michael Dunkley became the first Bermuda Premier to address the annual event. He was also interviewed by the media, including Bloomberg News and The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Meanwhile, the two-storey Bermuda booth was one of the most visited of the 400 exhibitors in the exhibition hall.

At the sprawling conference, covering all four floors of the Philadelphia Convention Centre, it was a relatively small audience that listened to the Premier’s executive leadership presentation, titled “Small Wonder: Bermuda’s supersized impact on the world of risk”. However, there was favourable feedback, and two of the attendees outside were overheard telling a late arriving colleague that he had missed “a good one”.

Mr Dunkley’s speech was bookended by videos of America’s Cup teams training and racing in Bermuda. He spoke about the sailing event and about the island’s long association with the US, from the revolutionary war through to the Second World War, and as the largest overseas tracking station for the US space programme. He also spoke about the tourism sector and the “supersized” role the island’s insurance industry plays in covering risks for the US and other countries around the world.

“Integral to this success has been the care taken by suceeding generations of Bermudians to build integrity and ease of regulations into every level of the Bermuda business model,” he said.

Answering questions afterwards, he said Bermuda belives it has a strong case to ensure its insurance and reinsurance sector stays strong in the face of any regulatory or tax changes made by the US or elsewhere.

He said: “We take the risk out of a country and put capital back in when something happens. That’s a very strong value proposition, and one that we would argue we can do more effectively than if there were changes and it had to be done on land in the United States.”

Later, Mr Dunkley and other members of the Bermuda delegation visited the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.

Also during the afternoon at the conference, Alan Gier, president of the Bermuda Captive Association, and global director, corporate risk management and insurance for General Motors, and Brian Quinn, chief underwriting officer of Granite Management, presented a session titled “Cutting-edge captives: how to combat hail, hackers and non-human drivers”. The session looked at the value of captives for self-insuring challenging non-traditional and emerging risks.

Today, the Bermuda delegation will be officially welcomed by Nowell Seaman, Rims president, and Mary Booth, CEO of Rims. Mr Dunkley will tour the exhibition hall.

Brad Kading, president of the Association of Bermuda Insurers and Reinsuers, will moderate an executive leadership panel discussion title “How can risk management build economic and human resilience?” Stephen Catlin, executive deputy chairman of XL Catlin, will be on the panel.

The Bermuda delegation includes representatives from the Bermuda Business Development Agency, the Bermuda Monetary Authority, Bermuda Tourism Authority and the island’s insurance and reinsurance industry.

The BDA, in partnership with the BTA and Gosling’s Rum, will host a Bermuda reception in the evening aboard the Moshulu, a square-rigged windjammer that featured in Rocky, and The Godfather Part II.

Our reporter travelled to the Rims conference courtesy of JetBlue Airways, which provided flights between Bermuda and New York