Donna James-Spruce

Donna James-Spruce previously led the risk management and safety team at Action Behavior Center, LLC (ABC). Prior to her tenure with ABC, she had worked in public-sector risk management since 2001. She was the director of risk management for the Port Authority of Corpus Christi from 2015 to 2022 and the risk manager for the City of Corpus Christi from 2001 to 2015. She holds the ARM designation and has a Master of Arts degree.

During her tenure in risk management leadership roles, James-Spruce created and grew risk management departments and established the framework for risk management. Using creative coaching, development and setting high expectations, she fostered dynamic and highly functioning teams. Through the creation of the risk management framework, risk transfer and mitigation programs, these governmental entities realized significant premium savings and a decrease in claim/litigation frequency/severity. She was instrumental in establishing contractual risk transfer, which protected the entities’ mission and financial stability. Her roles also extended to the emergency management function as a team leader, participating in six catastrophic incidents in 2020 alone.

Through strategic planning, she has conducted risk assessments and developed risk heat maps for the entities, aligning risk management goals with the missions of each entity. Additionally, she wrote risk assessment reports for ISO accreditation for Environmental Compliance and Management. Donna was also chosen to the inaugural Culture Champion team by Port leadership, whose mission was to promote a culture that inspires, empowers, and motivates employees.

James-Spruce has been active in networking and serving alongside other risk and insurance professionals. She served on the Advisory Board for the National Safety Council/TXDOT program, Our Driving Concern, and is one of the founding board members for My Texas Direct, 504 Physician Panel. She was a member of the American Association of Port Authorities and sat on their finance committee. She was a member of Texas PRIMA and national PRIMA since 2002. James-Spruce has served as president of Texas PRIMA twice, in 2012 and 2018. 

In 2009, she received the PRIMA Chapter Service Award and was nominated Risk Professional of the Year in 2013 and 2021. Donna has chaired almost every committee of Texas PRIMA. She and her team received the Texas PRIMA Risk Management Achievement Award in 2014, 2017, 2019 and 2020. Additionally, they created and initiated the first annual Public Risk Management Awareness Day in 2019. James-Spruce also served as Vice Chair of the Board for The Women’s Shelter of South Texas-Purple Door.

Professional Memberships (Former)

RIMS
RIMS South Texas Chapter
National PRIMA
Texas PRIMA National Safety Council