Everyone gets that question: So, what do you do for a living? I always find it interesting when I tell people that I work in risk management, and they would ask, What does that mean? This leads to the questions: What is risk management, and what do risk managers wish leaders knew about their role?
The Evolution of Risk Management
Risk management as a field has evolved tremendously over the years. Traditional risk management was primarily focused on insurance and hazard risks. After multiple industry disruptions, enterprise risk management (ERM) transformed the practice from operational to a more strategic level. The complex regulatory environment continued to propel risk management to the boardroom, but higher education appeared to be somewhat immune or resistant to these changes.
ERM at the Forefront
Things changed drastically in 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic was a significant milestone for higher education risk management. The effects of the pandemic caused leadership to view enterprise risks with a new lens. Due to the urgency and interdependency of risks, risk management discussions reached the executive and board levels. Further, the U.S. and state governments enacted more regulations that impacted universities similar to the financial industry, and reputational risk was at an all-time high.
The Voice of the Higher Education Risk Manager
The Risk Management Department is not the "No" department, and risks are not all negative.
Higher education risks have only become more complex and intertwined. Campus protests, free speech, cyber breaches, and AI make headlines similar to adverse events in the private sector. Value and trust in higher education are being questioned at the societal level. Risk management is more important than ever, but it is still misunderstood especially in higher education.
I reached out to the University Risk Management and Insurance Association (URMIA), an asso