Tom Halvorsen

We live in Central Florida at the Plantation at Leesburg, a retirement community for active adults, which is located about 35 miles north of Orlando. Tom is active in the work of the various homeowners associations at the Plantation and will be overseeing the risk management and insurance issues as the community is turned over to the residents after all the homes are completed and the developer moves out. Tom enjoys the art of woodburning, fishing on the Lake Harris chain with his new pontoon boat, bridge, and many other activities that are organized through the Plantation.

Tom has been retired from the University of Wisconsin-Madison since July 1995.

Joyce is a member of a women's barbershop chorus and two other singing groups. She also plays golf regularly with two groups in the Plantation. The Halvorsens live on the 10th fairway of the Crane's Roost Course, one of two courses in the Plantation.
--Tom and Joyce Halvorsen

Hello to all my friends and university risk managers from the great north woods of Wisconsin!

Since I retired from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in July of 1995 we have been living in Rhinelander on the Wisconsin River in a new home. It replaced the family cottage which we had owned since 1963. This allows me to pursue my main hobby of fishing almost daily. Joyce and I have a pontoon boat on which we can navigate many miles north or south of our dock.

To ease myself into retirement I joined a small agency here in Rhinelander, concentrating on selling small commercial accounts and personal lines. I also taught some seminars for continuing education requirements for The Independent Agents of Wisconsin and was an instructor for the new Certified Risk Manager (CRM) program out of Austin, Texas. I was also an expert witness on the plaintiff’s side in a bad faith case against an insurance company for failing to pay a claim in an underinsured motorist liability case. This lasted over two years. I was basically working mornings doing these things.

Since we go to Destin, Florida for four months from December through March, it became too difficult to keep those work activities going, and I totally retired in July 1999. Between fishing, hosting friends and relatives, and working out at the health club, I have had no trouble keeping busy. Joyce enjoys substitute teaching in the Rhinelander School District when she is available.

In March of 1996 I was invited by the People to People Organization to join a small group of insurance people to travel to China to meet with insurance, banking, and professors of insurance in Beijing, Xian, and Shanghai. There was only one other risk management professional besides myself. Joyce had a great time visiting schools and libraries and we both got to see the Forbidden Palace, the Terracotta Warriors, and the Great Wall. In October 1999 we went to Spain and Portugal for our 30th wedding anniversary.

I have many fond memories of URMIA, but I found the informal networking the most valuable asset professionally. During the time I was president I tried to have a breakfast board meeting to cut down the lengthy board meetings we had on Sunday afternoons. As the information age has transformed the operations of a risk manager, we must all remember that personal, face-to-face contact is still the best way to convince a Nobel Prize winning professor to make safety improvements in his/her lab.