1. What is the role of ERM today? Has it reached widespread recognition by the C-Suite? When management teams think about risk management, they are probably thinking concurrently about ERM as well as specific risk management disciplines; for example, the treasury looking after financial risk, traditional insurance teams looking at Property and Liability, and the team that tracks quality or compliance efforts. The nomenclature is sometimes confusing because we can think about risk while also thinking about risk at different levels, and management teams today are absolutely doing that.

2. How is working on a consulting team different from your previous roles as an in-house risk manager with Ford Motor Company and Coca-Cola? We provide clients with advice, experience, tools and assist them in educational efforts within their company, but we're different from a risk team within a corporation or nonprofit enterprise, where you have it as a staff function that looks after many aspects of risk within an organization. Sometimes we're hired by a board of directors or a management team to do an independent analysis of their organization's capabilities and help them determine where they would like the organization to be, and make a plan to get them there.

3. Has your background at a variety of other companies helped you do your current job? I think all of us, in any profession, bring our amassed prior experiences to the table. Working at Ford and Coca-Cola Enterprises was helpful for a lot of reasons, including exposure to the management level, decision-making around risk, an understanding of board responsibilities and the operational aspects of RM.