Taking over the reins

Just over three years ago, I joined StrategicRISK and my career as a specialist risk journalist began. Today, taking the helm of a renowned business journal like StrategicRISK, with a history of editorial excellence, is an incredibly exciting opportunity and one that I relish.

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One of the goals of the magazine has always been to profi le risk management accomplishment and share best practice. Continuing the drive, I travelled to Denmark to meet LEGO’s head of strategic risk, Hans Læssøe, who is trying to embed risk management early on in the toy-making cycle. You can read more about his model risk management career on pages 14-16.

Elsewhere, I’ve introduced a new People & Opinion section (page 12-13), where we’ll be canvassing risk experts from across the globe and asking them to share their views and insights with our readers.

This time, China specialist Chris Torrens looks at corruption in the People’s Republic.

On the risk front, two issues have been occupying our minds. First, the biggest risk management story of the moment is still the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. BP has been all over the press since one of its oil drilling platforms exploded, sparking a disaster of unfathomable proportions. Our infographic on pages 28-29 pulls the whole story together.

Second is that one-third of the food we eat arrives on our plates courtesy of the industrious honeybee, which is a vital pollinator. Worrying, then, that some sitting in the UK’s House of Lords think bees could be wiped out in 10 years. We look at the impact this could have on society and the global economy on pages 22-23.

In other developments, ever since Standard & Poor’s said it would start looking more closely at ERM when it assesses corporates, risk managers have been asking us to investigate. So we asked around and put your concerns to the rating agency.

See pages 24-25. We’ve also got two special reports: one on emerging environmental liabilities (turn to page 33) and one on property risks (page 43 onwards). Add to that the results of our regular online poll – this time tracking ERM maturity (pages 18-19) – and you’d have to agree that we’ve not been slacking off over the summer.

I plan to keep the momentum going, with a number of exciting projects lined up. Highlights include an event at the fast-approaching Ferma forum in London in September, German-language daily publications at the DVS conference in Munich, as well as special reports on renewable energy and social media.

It is my fourth year reporting on risk and I’ve enjoyed every minute. I hope at least some of that enthusiasm shows through and you enjoy picking up StrategicRISK.

If you have any scoops or suggestions about what you’d like to see in the future, send your letters to the editor at nathan.skinner@strategicrisk.eu.