Tim Graham named new Airmic Chair

Tim Graham, global head of HR Risk Management at GSK, was confirmed as the new Chair of the Airmic board at the annual general meeting of members at the Annual Conference in Liverpool.

He takes on the role from Claire Combes, director of Risk and Assurance at easyJet, who has served as chair for the past year.

Speaking to StrategicRISK, Graham said he was “tremendously excited” to be taking the reins having been a member for more than 20 years.

“I joined Airmic over 20 years ago when I found an organisation with the same passion and enthusiasm for risk management that I held then, and still do today,” he added. “I am keen now to continue building Airmic’s reputation as an organisation that stimulates thought leadership and organisational learning in risk management.”

He began his career as a chartered accountant before moving into risk management and insurance, taking up roles at Sainsbury’s, BAA and Centrica. He joined GSK as global head of HR Risk Management in 2013.

Julia Graham, CEO of Airmic, said: “I’m delighted to welcome Tim as our next chairman. Not only is Tim’s experience as a risk professional and Airmic Board member welcome, his arrival as Chairman comes at a time when people risk management and talent management have never been higher on the risk management agenda.”

Tim Graham believes it is vital for data and analytics to be utilised by the profession in an effort to model and understand risks in greater depth.

“Whilst traditional risk frameworks and registers will continue to remain important, recent events have shown that the focal point of our risk management ‘lens’ needs to extend much further ahead to capture these emerging and global ‘Frontier Risks’,” he said.

“These events have also highlighted the importance of data and analytics to better model risk, the value of more robust Business Continuity Planning and Crisis Management and to leverage the trust built between business and the insurance market to develop new risk management and risk transfer solutions.”