URMIA DRM Award Winner Fitzroy Smith

In this first installment of a three‑part mini‑series honoring the 2025 Distinguished Risk Manager (DRM) Award recipients, URMIA Matters highlights the remarkable career and life of Fitzroy Smith, Assistant Vice President, Chief Risk Officer at Howard University, with guest host, Miguel Delgado, current URMIA president and Associate Vice President and Chief Risk Officer at Carnegie Mellon University, interviewing. 

Fitzroy reflects on his early introduction to the insurance world through a high‑school program in Hartford, which set him on a lifelong path in risk management. With more than 25 years of experience across insurance, brokerage, captive management, local government, and over two decades in higher education, he shares the mentors, milestones, and leadership opportunities that shaped his professional journey, which culminated in the surprise of receiving the DRM Award at URMIA’s Annual Conference in Las Vegas. Beyond his professional accomplishments, Fitzroy discusses his deep commitment to community service, including decades of involvement with the YMCA and ongoing humanitarian efforts in Jamaica following recent hurricane devastation. He also offers a glimpse into what’s ahead, from advancing risk management excellence at Howard University to continuing his lifelong passion for youth development and service.  

Show Notes 

URMIA’s Distinguished Risk Manager Award 

Three Honored as Distinguished Risk Managers at URMIA Annual Conference 

Guest 

Fitzroy Smith, Assistant Vice President, Chief Risk Officer - Howard University 

Guest Host 

Miguel Delgado, Associate Vice President and Chief Risk Officer - Carnegie Mellon University 

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Transcript

m honored to be joined by three of the most distinguished members of our community on this [00:02:00] episode. Today we begin a special series dedicated to those who have earned the URMIA Distinguished Risk Manager Award, affectionately known as the DRM. Alright. 

Today's guest is Fitzroy Smith from Howard University. Welcome to the show, Fitz. With over 25 years of experience, Fitz has a consistent theme in his career with effective management of business and operational risk. Tell the audience a little about your journey fits.  

Fitzroy Smith: Thanks, Miguel. Glad to be here with you. Let's see. My journey began very early in the entire insurance risk management realm. I grew up in Hartford, Connecticut. Well, I was, you know, originally from Jamaica, West Indies, but grew up in Hartford, Connecticut. Back in the day, Hartford was known as the insurance capital. It probably still is. You know, all of the major companies either had a major office, or a number of large companies were based there. And in high school, we had a program called Project Invest. It was an insurance curriculum that was sponsored by The Hartford, [00:03:00] the Insurance Agents Association and the Insurance Women. And so, in that class, you know, we learned about the great role of insurance. We learned how to, you know, rate auto policies and things like that. And that was my first, I guess, opening or, you know, insight into what an insurance company was all about, what the insurance industry was all about. You know, very granular at that level. 

But it convinced me enough to change my plans for college. I had planned to major in accounting, but instead after taking this class, I decided to attend the College of Insurance, which is now St. John's, and major in insurance. So started very early. I was involved in a co-op program in college with Liberty Mutual. I moved around the company quite a bit, did claims, did underwriting. And after I left Liberty, after I graduated, I went to work for Middlesex Mutual, a small regional carrier in Connecticut. And from there, I, I went on to the brokerage [00:04:00] side, went into captive slash pool management, local government, the local government space, and then moved into the university, the university side, about 23 years ago.  

Miguel Delgado: Wow. What an incredible journey. I'm glad we have you on the risk management side and you're not over with the, uh, with the accountants. So that's quite a story, and I think you might be the first person I've ever talked with that, you know, most of the time the joke is that nobody ever decides when they're a kid that they're gonna grow up and work in risk management and insurance. But I think I actually met somebody who, as a kid, decided that they were gonna work in the insurance field. So that's really cool to hear. 

Well, assuming we were able to keep the award a surprise, and you had no idea that you were going to win this award, what was the first thing that came to mind when you heard your name Or when did you know that they were about to announce? Your name during the presentation? 

Fitzroy Smith: Yeah, that, that's a good one because I was sort of set up by my colleagues to, to, you know, I'm usually in the luncheon, but I had a couple calls scheduled and I normally sit towards the rear [00:05:00] of the room, but I was encouraged to sit with my colleagues up front, and, you know, all of those good things. I'm like, what is going on here? A few of my colleagues told me I was nominated, but I had no idea that I was that I was selected for the position. It wasn't until they mentioned something about the YMCA, and I started like, what are you talking about? And I started listening more into the description. I realized that they were talking about me. But yeah, I was just, you know, it was out of this world experience really. It really was.  

Miguel Delgado: Oh, that's awesome to hear. So, when you think about your career, Fitz, do you have someone or people in particular that you credit with helping you? Did you have a, a mentor who would you give a shout out now that you're a distinguished risk manager, who do you think back on, uh, along that journey that kind of helped you get there? 

Fitzroy Smith: That's a good one. It took me several people. I mean, it was in high school. My FBLA, Future Business Leaders of America teacher was Mrs. Perkeley Morris. She's probably retired by now, but she was the one that got me interested in the insurance [00:06:00] world and really, really great mentor and inspiration over the years in college. I had great professors, uh, great classmates. My first major, what I would call big break, or major role in a leadership position was at the local government insurance trust. My former boss, who was the executive executive director, Larry Bradley, hired me as the, um, the director of Property and Liability Services, and that was the ma the first major break that I had to, you know, lead in that role. 

And in the higher ed space, it would've to be Barry Dempsey, the former risk manager at George Washington University. He was getting ready to retire and when I interviewed with him, it was like I was talking to an old friend. It was a, you know, very collegial. He stuck around for about four or five months to get me really in tuned, oriented into the role before, before retiring, and I think that he played a really significant role in the success successes that I have moved on to [00:07:00] in the higher ed space. 

Miguel Delgado: Very cool. Great to hear. Do you have a particular professional accomplishment that you're proud of? Or perhaps you'd like to talk about maybe the most challenging situation you've had to work through?  

Fitzroy Smith: So, the DRM award was, it was, is probably the highlight of my career. Like I said, it was outta this world experience and I'm still still thrilled to be recognized by my peers outside of that. Miguel, I've been very involved with the YMCA movement for probably about 20, 25 years or so. I'm the former chair for the Metropolitan ym, YMCA of Washington, DC. And serving that as the chairman for that role was, it was probably a major highlight of my career. It's a $50 million plus operation. You know, some great mentors, some great leaders in the DMV, the DC, Maryland, and Virginia area. I've served in various capacity with the Y, so I really, you know, value that that experience, valued that opportunity to I, you know, to partner and to serve my [00:08:00] community. And like I said, right up there is the DRM, I mean that just really close from an individual achievement perspective.  

Miguel Delgado: Yeah, that's really cool to hear. I, I think it's awesome that you've been able to pour yourself into your career. Obviously, you, you've achieved, you know, excellence, and had a, had a lot of success in your professional career, but the fact that you still found time or made time to play an active part in, in being a part of your community and, you know, public service from a volunteer standpoint. I think that's very inspirational and I hope people are inspired to hear that when they, when they hear this podcast. 

So, tell us about life outside of work. What do you do outside of work? And you, you can't say work for the answer, you have to, you have to give a real answer about something you enjoy doing. I think I know part of what you're gonna say, but we're, we're friends, so I, I won't, I won't give a spoiler. I'll let you talk about your, your passions outside of work.  

Fitzroy Smith: Yeah. I'm very, um, very community oriented, very involved with my church. The most current project that I'm working on is a relief effort that we are doing for the island of, of Jamaica. You know, they were recently, um, hit by a major hurricane that devastated a [00:09:00] significant part of the country's infrastructure. So, we are really working with a number of groups with in Jamaica as well, and we plan to head down there in January to bring supplies and food, and, and clothing and all of those things to different parts of the community. So, that's something that, that I'm very involved in as well. Along with my brother, we also do a lot of work with, with a number of orphanages down in Jamaica. So, we are going to that not only work with the broader impacted community, but the four orphanages that we have worked in over the, over the years. 

I'm a big soccer fanatic. I'm a soccer fan. I've been to a few World Cups, and I, I've just put in my, my request for tickets for the, um, the 26 games here in the States. So, yeah, I continue to be very, very involved in soccer. Love to watch. Don't play as much as I used to or coach as much. Yeah. But, but those are things that I'm, I'm very much involved in. And my work with the YMCA continues, I'm really focused on youth initiative, youth development, and I guess I'm also towards the [00:10:00] tail end of my career, I'm, I'm 62. I might have maybe five or 10 years left in the bucket, so to speak. And so, I guess I need to be more involved with, you know, the aging population that, that we also service in the DMV area as well. 

Miguel Delgado: Sure. Well, you kind of segued right into my final next and final question, which was going to be what's next? Are there any big goals or dreams that you'd still like to undertake at work or outside of work before, before the time in the bucket, as you mentioned, runs out?  

Fitzroy Smith: Yeah, I mean, it's all about continued growth, continued continued development. I continue to work hard, and to set and to set goals and, and try to achieve them within my career. I'm at Howard University, an HBCU, and, and my goal here is to really develop a top flight risk management program for the university and our medical center. So, that's really what I'm really focused on at this particular time. And also, still, like I said, still involved with the two development. The YMCA, again, is a big part of me and I will continue [00:11:00] my involvement with the YMCA as long as I have breath in my body.  

Miguel Delgado: All right. Well, thank you so much Fitz. I enjoyed talking with you and I'm confident that folks are gonna love hearing about your journey. And we'll be inspired by your, your excellence, both in your career and in public service to the community in which you live. So great talking with you.  

Fitzroy Smith: Same here, Miguel. Thank you. 

Narrator: You've been listening to URMIA Matters. You can find more information about URMIA at www.urmia.org. For more information about this episode, check out the show notes available to URMIA members in the URMIA Network Library.