Events like the 2008 global financial crisis, the adoption of the 2010 Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, and the COVID-19 pandemic have all raised corporate demand for risk assessment, prediction, and management professionals, such as chief risk officers (CROs). With the financial services industry urgently seeking to fill this talent gap, more professional programs in Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) are emerging in higher education. A recent article on the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP) website, Getting Schooled on Risk: Graduate Programs Cultivate Talent for the Times, discusses the shortfall, and how more ERM programs in higher education have emerged to meet the surge in demand for risk professionals.
The article recognizes Columbia University M.S. in ERM Program Director Sim Segal as an early adopter in the industry for his role as founder of the program in 2016. Segal acknowledges the increasing demand for risk professionals, and the critical contributions they make in organizations, and how the Columbia program prepares them for a wide range of ERM and risk management roles. “The prominence, visibility, and increasingly strategic nature of the CRO role has contributed to the interest in ERM, and our program’s emphasis is on integrating ERM into strategic decision-making.”
Segal also explained that because ERM and risk management (RM) needs can vary widely across industries, some roles might require additional specialization. For example, in financial risk management and insurance risk management roles, coding skills and quantitative skills "are paramount and ever-evolving.” He added that changes in regulatory and rating agency requirements or market pressures such as ESG can impact ERM/RM roles. “Communication skills are paramount across all sectors and roles, and skill sets are also evolving here, such as the growing recognition of the need to adapt for cognitive bias,” he said.
Read the entire article on GARP’s website. Learn more about Columbia University’s M.S. in Enterprise Risk Management program. The Global Association of Risk Professionals, GARP, is a leading professional association for risk managers, dedicated to the advancement of the risk profession through education, research and the promotion of best practices globally.
