What is the Future of Enterprise Risk Management?
By Victoria Trainer - Accounting and Risk Management Student at Georgia State University
What is the Future of Enterprise Risk Management?
Me.
I am the future of ERM. Actually, it is not just me. It’s the other students studying Risk Management, too. I feel so lucky that I happen to be attending University at a time when studying Risk Management is a viable option. The material is engrossing. Learning about Risk Management excites me. Most of all, I am looking forward to joining the risk profession.
If I have not met you yet, my name is Victoria Trainer, and I am double-majoring in Accounting and Risk Management at Georgia State University. This year I was fortunate enough to be selected to receive a scholarship from the Spencer Educational Foundation to attend the Risk & Insurance Management Society (RIMS) ERM Conference in New Orleans. If I learned only one thing at the ERM conference, it’s that there is SOOOO much to learn in this booming industry!
L to R: Analucia Parades, Student at Georgia State University; Carol Fox, Vice President, Strategic Initiatives at RIMS; Victoria Trainer, blog author.
Attending the RIMS ERM conference as a student was incredible. My favorite part was meeting risk professionals. Like me, most of them stumbled into the field by accident and have really enjoyed it. These folks are incredible, and ever so curious! I also enjoyed seeing that much of the material covered in the various sessions were the same topics that are covered in my Risk Management classes. I am already using the handouts and whitepapers from the conference in some of the work I am doing right now for classes. I loved how much dialogue there was between the speakers and audience during some of the sessions I attended. It demonstrated that many businesses face similar obstacles, and together, we can exchange ideas about how to face them.
As I was getting ready to head home after the conference, I saw Carol Fox and told her that I had a new goal for myself: I want to be a presenter at a future ERM conference. I encourage every risk professional to attend the RIMS ERM conference! The people in attendance, along with the robust and relevant sessions, make it worth the trip.
With a nearing graduation date of May 2020, someone asked me if I was suffering from senioritis, and truth be told? Quite the opposite. If anything, I am studying harder. It’s a bittersweet feeling to know I will be leaving the world of academia, a world that introduced me to risk management for the first time. I will be trading in structured lectures and case studies for real-time challenges that need to be solved.
This post would not be complete without expressing my gratitude. First, to the Spencer Educational Foundation, whose scholarship made it possible for me to join the conference. Second, to my professor at Georgia State, Jim Presmanes, who nominated me for the Spencer Scholarship. Third, I to the wonderful people at RIMS who organized the conference. And finally, to all the risk professionals reading this: thank you as well, and I encourage those of you needing personnel in your ERM departments to consider students! There is so much to discover, and we want to be a part of that.