Introducing Stephen Hill, Public Risk Manager of the Year in 2005, said to be a multitasker

Head of His Class

Whoever said men can't multitask never met Stephen A. Hill. With myriad responsibilities as a public risk manager, he has made the juggling act of running a major urban school system look easy.

Stephen A. Hill has always appreciated a good challenge. That's how the Texas native wound up in the Motor City, running the risk management department of the 10th largest urban school district in the nation and the largest in the state of Michigan. As the executive director of risk management for the Detroit Public School System, he is responsible for overseeing 300 schools, about 148,000 students and 22,000 employees--32 of which work in the risk management department.

He had originally planned to work in the radio or television industry, after earning a master's degree in communications from the University of Texas at El Paso in 1972. But all that changed in the course of two hours, in a meeting he had with a marketing manager from Aetna Life and Casualty Insurance Co. The man asked for 20 minutes of Hill's time to explain the opportunities in the corporate and international casualty insurance industry. Hill was hooked. Impressed by the possibilities for professional growth and the scope of service opportunities, he switched his career focus and never looked back.

Hill spent 18 weeks attending 12-hour classes at the Aetna Home Office Sales School in Hartford, Conn., and began working as a marketing representative in the San Antonio office of Aetna Life and Casualty. A year later, he was transferred to the insurance carrier's Detroit office via a promotion. Michigan has been his home ever since.

After working in marketing positions with large insurance carriers, including Aetna and Transamerica, Hill moved on to sales and account management positions with agencies and brokerages, including Frank B. Hall and Johnson & Higgins. His introduction into the world of public risk management came in 1986, when he was named risk manager of the city of Flint, Mich. Six months later, he was appointed deputy city administrator by then-Mayor James A. Sharp.

"The deputy city administrator job actually gave me some political clout and provided me with invaluable experience in executive municipal management and local politics," says Hill.

It was that position that opened the door for him to become the first risk manager of the Detroit Public Schools in 1993, and later the director of risk management for Cook County, Ill. Hill eventually returned to Detroit Public Schools to become executive director of risk management in 2001.

His hard work and dedication in the public arena was recognized by his peers in 2005, when the Public Risk Management Association and Trident Insurance Services LLC named him Public Risk Manager of the Year. The award is presented each year to an individual "who exemplifies what it means to be a public risk manager through a continual display of innovation and commitment to the field."

"Stephen Hill is someone others in the industry can look up to and emulate," says Marshall Davies, PRIMA's former interim executive director. "He has demonstrated his role as a leader in the public risk arena, and came out on top of the criteria collectively used to identify the Public Risk Manager of the Year."

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