December 4, 2025
To recruit and retain robust diverse boards, companies need the protection of Steel City Re’s Side R® D&O parametric reputation insurance.
To recruit and retain robust diverse boards, companies need the protection of Steel City Re’s Side R® D&O parametric reputation insurance.
The shifting landscape of social and cultural norms have made reputation risk—which threatens liquidity—more prevalent, costly to firms, and personal to corporate leadership. Risk professionals are now describing reputation risk as a threat to resilience rather than a PR problem. Communications executives are using new reputation risk governance and management intelligence tools, and both the American Law Institute and the DCRO Risk Governance Institute are recommending reputation insurance for companies and their boards.
We. Communications launches reputation forecast: A board-level framework for managing reputation value and risk for governance and ERM. The new offering combines financial-grade data from Steel City Re, the pioneering advisory firm behind reputation risk insurance, with We.’s full-stack communications intelligence including media monitoring, audience polling, social analytics and AI insights.
“In practical terms, reputation risk reflects the misalignment between what a company does and says, what various stakeholders expect and how they respond in financially relevant ways. The choices and response of those stakeholders — buying, investing, advocating, protesting, regulating, criticizing or leaving — carry consequences for a business and its operating environment, and sometimes entire industries. These are the under appreciated and tangible costs of reputation risks worth considering with more ongoing foresight”…and financial solutions like reputation insurance and board-level Side R protections.
The Guiding Principles from the DCRO Institute is a governance tool—for directors navigating complexity, convergence, and scrutiny. More than crisis management, these principles are a call to clarity—to governing reputation as both a mission-critical asset and a potential source of material risk. These Principles help directors avoid claims of culpability from activists, institutional investors and litigators that can create costly personal reputation losses that are not covered by D&O liability insurance.
Reputation Metrics Linked to Board-Level KPIs. Firms are … managing (reputation) as a measurable enterprise risk.
DEI-linked stock price drop lawsuits may lead to painful board exit conversations and impair board member’s’ personal reputations. “Companies are going to be scrutinized for the statements and positions that they’ve taken in these areas,” said Troy Harder. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see a lot more lawsuits like this.” […] “(H)ow companies monitor risk matters just as much as how they disclose it,” Jennifer Wu, an assistant professor of finance at the University at Buffalo’s School of Management, told Agenda. That’s why Steel City Re developed a comprehensive reputation risk monitoring, management, and insurance solution.
There are 45 companies (combined value $10 trillion) on the MAGA anti-DEI hit list.“The worst thing that can happen to a company is: You’re still on that list, but you’ve lost all your good faith and credibility with folks on the other side of these issues.” We call this situation a reputation crisis and a clear need for reputation insurance.
Securities class-action lawsuits increased. There were 225 filings last year, up from 215 in 2023 and 208 in 2022.
Is Reputation Risk Beyond Control and Oversight? Interest in reputation insurance surged 700% in December 2024.