Wednesday, February 9, 2011

ERM-BC-COOP: Execs, Board as risks

 

According to a copyrighted Dow Jones NewsPlus article by Liz Moyer (liz.moyer@dowjones.com) (see http://tinyurl.com/4spjgmm), the California Public Employees' Retirement System, a/k/a Calpers, is suing former Lehman Chief Executive Richard Fuld, former Lehman CFOs Christopher O'Meara and Erin Callan, and nine Lehman directors contending they failed to disclose Lehman's true financial position.

The bottom line for risk managers is that executives and board members are risks to the organization. As risks, they should, I think, be included in the risk management process; they should be considered as a functional unit and treated accordingly.

Granted, we are dealing with personalities rather than processes, but these individuals need to understand their actions - or inactions - can greatly impact the organization as well as their personal lives.

At the same time, practitioners need to consider including insurance to protect the organization from legal actions against its executives and board members. Even if the executives and board members prevail, the organization will still face heavy expenses to defend.

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