OREANDA-NEWS. The Association of American Railroads (AAR) today announced Warren Bruce Beach of Union Pacific Railroad has been awarded the 2013 David W. Fries Award for exemplary risk management efforts and practices in the railroad industry. The award was presented at the Railroad Insurance Management Association's (RIMA) annual meeting recently held in Banff, Alberta.

"I am pleased to present this award to Warren Beach in recognition of his significant contributions to the railroad industry," said Chris Bremus of Norfolk Southern Railway, Chair of the David W. Fries Award Nominating Committee and past President of RIMA. "Throughout his long career, Warren has consistently applied innovation and superior effort to every aspect of his work. He has developed the capacity to thoroughly research and understand very complex issues, and then clearly and simply communicate key elements so that critical and strategic decisions can be made. Beach stands as an example of hard work and dedication to all of us in the insurance and risk management community."

Before working as the Assistant Vice President Finance and Insurance with UP, Beach had a long and successful career in both the military and transportation sectors. A Vietnam veteran, Beach spent years as a pilot for the U.S. Air Force, then continued on to work as a financial analyst for Procter and Gamble as well as an assistant controller for the Lone Star Steel Corporation in Dallas.

The David W. Fries Award is sponsored by the Railroad Insurance Management Association (RIMA), an association of railroad risk managers that is overseen by a board of elected officers from the railroad community and administered by the AAR. The award was established in honor of the late David W. Fries who served as director of risk management for the Norfolk Southern Railway and was a past president and officer of RIMA. His dedication to the field of risk management and risk issues in the rail industry serves as the foundation for establishing this award.