Influencing the next generation of risk managers

We've had a busy spring, with cyber hacks continuing to hit not only the private sector  but the government as well.  The most visible breaches took place at two health insurers -- Anthem in February and Premera Blue Cross in March -- and the federal government, where what looked like one breach in the Office of Personnel Management that was detected this spring has turned into at least two large breaches, the other being of security background check information that has evidently been going on for some years.

I spoke last week at SecureWorld Portland, covering some of this information, but mainly to show how to present requests for cyber project funding to executives and to boards.  That engagement came just after the end of the University of Washington academic year.

This summer, we've got a couple of large projects on the ASA side to take care of.  The first is an upgrade of the ASA website, to better reflect the proportion of time I'll be spending over the next years on research and publishing, with a lesser emphasis on consulting.  We've also got a third volume of the Reflections on Risk series to publish.  And I'm trying to put together my speaking calendar for the next year, especially those portions that involve travel.

I become a full time lecturer at the University of Washington's Information School in August.  I'll be developing syllabi for two new (for me) courses I'm teaching this fall.  The first is the mid-career graduate course called "Foundations of Information Management."  The other is my first foray into teaching undergraduates, in a course called "Enterprise Risk Management."   I am really looking forward to both, since it will give me a chance to review and tweak my two graduate risk courses at the same time.

Part of my work at the university involves committee service, and I look forward to work on enhancing the Master of Science in Information Management (MSIM) program offerings. Here's a photo of me with several of my mid-career students in academic regalia at the iSchool Convocation 2015 program in Meany Hall.

  Left to right:  Andrew Magnusson, Matthew Christian, and Kenny Lee.

I am proud of all my students.  They are the next generation of risk leaders.