The Human Side of Risk with Jerome Mayne - RIMScast | Lyssna här

Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.

In this episode, Justin interviews Jerome Mayne about his experiences and his upcoming RIMS Texas Regional Conference 2026 keynote, "Choices and Consequences: The Human Side of Risk." In his keynote, Jerome will speak about his experiences and the human factors in decisions. He shares part of the story from his keynote and his book Diary of a White Collar Criminal. Justin and Jerome discuss how fraud develops. Most fraud comes after a series of bad decisions. Jerome says, looking back, you may not understand why you made those decisions. His keynote will address, through storytelling, how fraud happens. Jerome uses humor to tell very serious stories.

Jerome speaks of an organizational culture in which it is safe to discuss with leaders bad decisions you may have made. If there is an atmosphere of fear, you will not have these discussions.

Listen for the value of connecting and giving your audience takeaways they will remember.

Key Takeaways:

[:01] About RIMS and RIMScast.

[:16] About this episode of RIMScast. We will be joined by Jerome Mayne, opening keynote speaker for the RIMS Texas Regional Conference 2026. We will talk about choices and consequences. But first…

[:42] RIMS-CRMP Workshop. We are delighted to announce that on August 27th and 28th, RIMS President Manny Padilla will be leading the two-day in-person workshop at St. John's University at 101 Astor Place in New York City. A link to the registration is in this episode's show notes.

[1:02] RIMS-CRMP Virtual Workshops. The next virtual RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep courses will be held on July 28th and 29th. RIMS will partner with PARIMA for the RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep on September 1st and 2nd. Registration links are in this episode's show notes.

[1:19] On the webinars page, you will see a two-part series hosted by the RIMS Membership Department. The "Classroom to Career" webinar series highlights how RIMS equips students with the knowledge, skills, and connections needed to thrive in risk management careers.

[1:34] Participants will gain insights into industry trends, career pathways, and practical tools that help them confidently step into the evolving world of risk management after graduation. These sessions will be hosted on September 1st and 9th.

[1:48] These sessions are member exclusives and are complimentary for RIMS members, of course. So, if you are interested in becoming a member, this would be the time. Visit RIMS.org/membership.

[1:57] Live Events! The RIMS ERM Conference 2026 will be held on November 19th and 20th in Columbus, Ohio. Registration will open in July. Look out for the call for nominations for the RIMS ERM Global Award of Distinction. Visit RIMS.org/ERM2026 in July for that announcement.

[2:19] RIMS is back on YouTube. Our handle is @RIMSOfficialChannel. We've got plenty of videos there, including RIMScast, RIMScast Canada video podcasts, and other informative and entertaining content from RIMS. Subscribe to the channel today!

[2:38] On with the Show! Our guest today is Jerome Mayne. He is an Ethics and Humorous Keynote Speaker. He will be kicking off the RIMS Texas Regional Conference 2026.

[2:48] Jerome is the author of Diary of a White Collar Criminal, the first-hand account of his career in comedy and his 21-month Federal prison sentence for white-collar conspiracy. Learn more at JeromeMayne.com.

[3:03] Jerome will provide a unique blend of ethical insights and humor at the RIMS Texas Regional Conference 2026 in San Antonio on Tuesday, August 11th, with his session, "Choices and Consequences: The Human Side of Risk."

[3:20] We're going to get a preview of that session, and also get his perspective on ethical decision-making and how risk managers can avoid certain temptations. We're going to have a lot of fun! Let's get to it!

[3:33] Interview! Jerome Mayne, Welcome to RIMScast!

[3:38] Jerome was recommended by a RIMS member to be a great person to "kick off" the conference. Jerome says word of mouth is the best marketing.

[4:28] Jerome says people don't like to think they're going to an ethics conference. That could be a real "sleeper."

[4:50] Jerome says his whole perspective is from the human side. He speaks about decisions. He doesn't speak about financial transactions. He's not doing bullet points. He's not a scholar in ethics. He knows about decisions.

[5:12] Policies and checklists are important, but there's still a human being making the decision, especially with technology.

[5:30] Jerome says his experience and story have to do with decision-making. It doesn't matter what industry it is; it's all the same. It's human. That's what he talks about, and he says he's fortunate because he gets to tell a story.

[5:50] One of the things Jerome hears most is that he connected with the group because he's a regular guy, like everybody else in the office. He wasn't a Bernie Madoff. He didn't plan something. It was decisions.

[6:23] Jerome says that in real estate finance, you've got a lot of things that have to happen. There are Fannie Mae guidelines, and underwriters that make sure the transactions are right. They didn't call it risk management. It was your manager who kept an eye on it.

[6:47] With real estate finance, you have underwriters, but they can't catch everything, and there was less technology. It was a lot about the human factor. Then when you sell all these loans in a pool, and it goes to Wall Street, there are audits, and that's where they can find stuff.

[7:12] There were some red flags before it went to auditing, but that's the risk.

[7:28] Jerome thinks risk management has evolved since his time in real estate. In Jerome's time, humans made the decisions to get the customer involved. There were human decisions to make sure that financial transactions went through. Now there are more computers to flag stuff.

[8:04] Jerome says, ultimately, today, risk managers are looking for fraud and for specific risks they have identified that indicate there is a problem. It starts with the organization's culture. If you're not comfortable thinking about decisions you've made, that can be a red flag.

[8:45] Fraud isn't the first thing that happens. It's usually a decision, a mistake, or a justification. It kind of rolls from there. Justification is really easy. Fraud is the last thing that happens.

[9:28] Jerome says people call it the slippery slope. Jerome calls it your gut instinct. Instinct is like muscle memory. If something doesn't look right, you know what to do. You feel it right away.

[9:53] And then, maybe there's a reason that you don't do it. You want this transaction to go through, or you like the customer and you think it's not a big deal. It's not like they told you they were going to commit fraud.

[10:24] And then, you keep working with that customer, and you realize, more and more, you're just making decisions to make it through the transactions. Jerome will share a story like this in the session. It didn't start with one thing, and they never asked Jerome to do anything for them.

[11:01] It was never part of the deal that Jerome was going to make money at it. His biggest worry was that he was going to get fired, maybe.

[11:15] A Quick Break! There are many fantastic RIMS events coming up in 2026. The Annual Florida RIMS Educational Conference will be held from July 28th through August 1st at the lovely Ritz-Carlton in Naples, Florida. A link to the event is in this episode's show notes.

[11:33] Register now for the Second Annual RIMS Texas Regional Conference, which will be held from August 10th through the 12th at the Grand Hyatt on the San Antonio River Walk. Visit RIMS.org/Events for registration information.

[11:51] The hotel cutoff date was July 10th. Reservations may still be made after the hotel cutoff date, subject to availability; however, the negotiated group rate is no longer guaranteed, so reserve now.

[12:03] The 11th Annual Chicagoland Risk Forum will return to the Old Post Office on Thursday, September 24th, 2026. Visit ChicagolandRiskForum.org for more information.

[12:14] The RIMS Western Regional Conference will be held from October 4th through the 7th in Seattle, Washington. The agenda is live, and registration is open. Visit RIMSWesternRegional.com and the link in this episode's show notes for more information.

[12:31] Save the dates: October 18th through the 21st. We will be in Quebec City to celebrate the 50th Live RIMS Canada Conference. Booth sales are open, and sponsorship opportunities are still available. Advance registration is open now.

[12:47] Visit RIMSCanadaConference.ca for more information. Also, remember to check out RIMS.org/Canada for our spinoff show, RIMScast Canada, hosted by National Conference Committee Chair, Aaron Lukoni.

[13:03] The RIMS ERM Conference 2026 will be held on November 19th and 20th in Columbus, Ohio. Registration is now open.

[13:12] Be on the lookout for an announcement about submissions for the RIMS Global ERM Award of Distinction. Visit RIMS.org/ERM2026.

[13:22] Let's Return to Our Interview with RIMS Texas Regional Conference 2026 Keynote, Jerome Mayne!

[13:32] Justin and Jerome have standup comedy in common. Justin did standup in New York from 2006 to 2007. He says it takes a certain calling to want to get up and do that.

[14:11] Jerome had done improv and started doing standup. He had always been a performer and a musician, performing on stage. He started improv, "smoking stage," and standup because his life was swimming along just great.

[14:36] Then, Boom! Jerome was indicted. He was going through pre-trial. He didn't have a job anymore; he didn't know what to do, and he didn't know what was going to happen to him. His life wasn't happy, and being in a club every night of the week, you can develop some bad habits.

[15:33] Jerome says there was some great stuff about some of the people he met, especially after he pled guilty. It took a while from that point until he had to go to prison. So he had several months, and he didn't know what to expect in prison. He was scared. Then he just embraced it.

[16:06] A lot of his standup material was about his indictment and preparing for prison. Jerome says in standup you have to give the audience permission to laugh about serious subjects.

[16:45] Jerome developed cancer in prison. After he got out, he used it. He finds comedy all over the place, even in serious, nightmare stuff. He had some funny stuff that happened during the cancer. That material didn't work. The audience never felt comfortable for him to joke about it.

[17:47] The audience gets the story, not the bullet points. He's not telling a story about fraud. He's telling a story about life. It's not a story about Jerome; it's a story about the audience. Not that they're going to do it, or have done it, but everybody is eligible to make a bad decision.

[18:16] Jerome says, you can be a great father; you can be the CEO; you're eligible. It's whether or not you do, and you recognize that the decisions you make are going to have consequences.

[18:28] Jerome tries to connect with the audience. He has found a lot of people to be receptive to some really serious stuff. People need to feel comfortable listening. They're not learning textbook information. They're learning from a story.

[18:55] They can reflect on what they see: situations that they've been in. Jerome has found that comedy helps loosen people up so they can listen, and they're not saying, Wow, that's a felon! Jerome doesn't look like a felon. Felons don't look a certain way. That's important, too.

[19:31] Justin says we have so many listeners who are CROs and risk leaders, and their job is to help make better decisions. Some of them may blur the lines out of an act of desperation. They may be thinking through the lens of parents of students in college or approaching college.

[19:51] Jerome has found that doing standup prepared him to be a speaker. You get beat up as a standup. You have to connect with the group to convey your story. That's what comedy is. Jerome found that comedy worked, and he got something out of it. He feels good about it.

[20:36] Jerome never thought that standup was part of what he was going to do or that he would feel fulfilled providing entertainment, and for people to walk away saying, "I'm never going to forget that." When he hears that, he knows he did something right. It mattered.

[21:13] Justin talks about being in a band in high school. Jerome was a piano player and singer. He formed an Elton John tribute band after his time in prison; he played Elton. You can find his Elton John tribute band on the internet.

[21:47] Justin played bass. He wanted to be Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. When you're on stage, you have an instrument to rely on. When you're a comedian, you have nothing else to rely on. Jerome really likes sharing his story, and he found that people get something out of it.

[22:21] Jerome says he has to be fulfilled also, or he wouldn't do this anymore. That does help. He likes to connect with the group. As a speaker, just like a standup, Jerome needs to connect, read the audience, see where they're going in real time, and change it.

[22:46] Jerome says you could be the smartest guy in the state, and people will walk out of there, and they got nothing. Jerome would like to think that he can connect. He's been doing this for over 20 years. He'd better have found where the pause needs to be, and it changes.

[23:21] Sponsorships! You can sponsor a RIMScast episode for this, our weekly show, or a dedicated episode. RIMScast is proud of its longstanding relationships with AXA XL, Global Risk Consultants, Alliant, Zurich, and more.

[23:41] Links to many of these episodes are in the show notes. RIMScast sponsorships can be bundled with whitepapers and webinar sponsorships.

[23:49] RIMScast has a global audience of risk and insurance professionals, legal professionals, students, business leaders, C-Suite executives, and more. Let's collaborate and help you reach them!

[24:03] Reach out to Ted Donovan at TDonovan@RIMS.org or reach out to Sales at Sales@RIMS.org. Let's find the best opportunity for you and your organization.

[24:15] Let's Conclude Our Dialog with RIMS Texas Regional Conference 2026 Keynote Jerome Mayne!

[24:45] Jerome says he doesn't know trends more than the average consumer. Some people are thought leaders. Jerome is a storyteller. He wouldn't do it if people weren't getting something out of it. He wouldn't be on conference stages if somebody hadn't heard he might be a good fit.

[25:40] Jerome says, it's not because he kept up on that industry. It's not that he doesn't understand risk, fraud, and ethics; he does. He understands them more, however, in the way humans might make decisions or how they might avoid making decisions.

[26:18] Jerome says good leaders setting the tone are all over the place. There are good people everywhere. Most people are good. Good leaders and good cultures are all over the place.

[26:43] Jerome suggests doing a check-in on your organization and people to make sure they're comfortable saying, "I think I made a bad decision. Can we talk about that?" If people are scared to do that, they're not going to make the right decision, and they don't feel supported.

[28:00] Jerome says that what he learned from his experience is that sometimes you can make decisions and choices, and then look back and question why you would ever have made those decisions. It didn't make sense.

[28:43] Jerome says, when people look back, it just doesn't look the same as it did when you were in it. You didn't see the forest for the trees. It doesn't look the same when you are looking back at it.

[28:58] Jerome says, when I think about risk and financial danger, I think of people and how they have to make decisions. It's about trusting yourself that you are going to make a good decision. If you have support from the organization, you're going to feel comfortable talking about it.

[29:32] It's important to make sure there's no silence and fear in your organization about discussing decisions.

[29:42] Justin says, This has been a standout RIMScast episode. We don't get too many people with your resume. I look forward to having you keynote the RIMS Texas Regional Conference 2026 in San Antonio, on August 11th, at the San Antonio River Walk. Thank you, Jerome!

[30:42] Special thanks again to Jerome Mayne for joining us here on RIMScast. Check out his site, JeromeMayne.com, for more information.

[30:51] We look forward to his keynote at the RIMS Texas Regional Conference 2026 on the morning of Tuesday, August 11th, at the Grand Hyatt on the San Antonio River Walk. Be sure to follow up with him in the hallways afterward and let him know you heard him here on RIMScast.

[31:11] Plug Time! Become a RIMS member and get access to the tools, thought leadership, and network you need to succeed. Visit RIMS.org/membership or email membershipdept@RIMS.org for more information.

[31:28] Risk Knowledge is the RIMS searchable content library that provides relevant information for today's risk professionals. Materials include RIMS executive reports, survey findings, contributed articles, industry research, benchmarking data, and more.

[31:45] For the best reporting on the profession of risk management, read Risk Management Magazine at RMMagazine.com. It is written and published by the best minds in risk management.

[31:58] Justin Smulison is the Business Content Manager at RIMS. Please remember to subscribe to RIMScast on your favorite podcasting app. You can email us at Content@RIMS.org.

[32:10] Practice good risk management, stay safe, and thank you again for your continued support!

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