A little while ago, I wrote a blog on the growing emergence of the Chief Risk Officer, or CRO, in the c-suite of many organizations across the globe.  Risk and how to handle it has become much more than an afterthought by today’s organizational leaders.  One example I cited was a study published by BNY Mellon which stated that over 80 per cent of institutional investors expect risk management to play an even greater role in the investment decision process in the future.

Now it seems the term CRO as Chief Risk Officer is being expropriated by CRO as Chief Resiliency Officer.  One definition of this CRO is someone who will lead the creation of a cohesive resilience strategy and will plan, coordinate, and direct those efforts across the enterprise, guiding the creation of a resilience vision and strategy document.  I guess I am OK with this, although it might muddle the terminology somewhat. Perhaps it’s an attempt to focus on the “bouncing back” from a negative event rather than focusing on the negative event itself? Resiliency and risk management, if not exactly the same concept, share the same goal: to prepare and guide an organization in the face of potential perils it faces.

So here’s to the growing influence of the CRO – whichever one it may be!  I look forward to hearing from you.

Rich Smith
VCIA President