IRM names Sidebottom new chair

The IRM has appointed a new independent non-executive chair. Stephen Sidebottom, former Global Head Business HR, Standard Chartered Bank, replaced Iain Wright, CRO, Europe, Canada Life, on 1 June.

He has over 30 years’ international experience of working in HR and organisation development, primarily in global financial services and in both private and public sectors. He also has nearly 20 years’ experience on the boards of various membership associations.

According to Wright, Sidebottom is “eminently qualified to lead the Board into the next phase of the Institute’s journey where we can grow in the post pandemic world and I look forward to working with Stephen and the rest of the Board over the next months as we develop and implement plans to take us into an exciting future.

He continued: “My almost one and a half years as Chair have been dominated by the IRM’s reaction to Covid-19 and I am very pleased to see how the staff, led by the chief executive, have moved the Institute to the positive position it is in today, able to deliver qualifications, exams and training remotely.

Despite the pandemic, the Institute is better placed than ever and we are now at a point where we can take advantage of those digital developments and our financial strength to start on the next phase of our journey to consolidate our position as the world’s leading body for enterprise risk management.”

Sidebottom added: ”Over the last year managing risk has been at the forefront of business leaders’ minds, and as we start to come through the Covid-19 crisis the IRM has a unique opportunity to use its outstanding expertise in risk management to strengthen the role of professionally qualified risk managers in addressing future risks.

“I believe the IRM is ideally placed to champion the debate about the skills and risk management approaches that risk professionals and organisations need to succeed.

”The Institute is at an exciting time in its history, where we can look forward and really make our mark. We will be increasing the diversity and content of our product portfolio, in both qualifications and training. I am particularly keen to see the Institute continue to operate in global markets and expand internationally.”