Public risk managers need to follow the lead of their corporatecounterparts and incorporate more enterprise risk managementpractices, the incoming president of the Public Risk ManagementAssociation contends.

"I think it's time to step up and get in on the planning ofprograms to give the perspective that some things need to be inplace beforehand," said Katharine M. Peeling, risk managementspecialist with the Anne Arundel County public school system inAnnapolis, Md.

Ms. Peeling noted that historically, public risk managers havebeen "brought in at the last minute to fix things"--and often theresults are reactive rather than proactive.

Public risk managers should be involved in all planningprocesses because they understand the risk tolerance within theirorganization, she said, explaining that enterprise risk managementis not nearly as prevalent in the public realm as it is in theprivate sector as a result of a different focus between thetwo.

"In private industry the bottom line and profits are veryimportant, so they seem to move into things like ERM quicker--whereyou want to evaluate the risk and the opportunities," sheexplained. While public entities need to be fiscally responsible,"it doesn't drive what we do," she added.

Ms. Peeling said that because public risk managers havehistorically been the insurance buyers for public entities, "wewere viewed as the person who just buys insurance." But as riskmanagement has grown, she added, it has become obvious that tocontrol the costs of coverage, "you have to be in on the planningstage so you don't get yourself into trouble, where you need theinsurance."

Risk managers must put themselves in front of theirorganization's decision-makers and become more a part of theplanning process rather than trying to fix things after the fact,she acknowledged.

"When I worked for the county government, we would have newpublic officials coming in wanting to meet everyone and find outwhat they do," she said. "That's when risk managers could get themost bang for their buck and take that as an opportunity."

PRIMA offers help to public risk managers with a briefing kit,available to members on the group's Web site, that provides toolson how to talk about what they do and how to bring value to theorganization. "That's what I urge risk managers to do," she said,adding that while public risk managers are valuable, "they can beviewed as more valuable."