Spencer Foundation Grant Enables RMA Students to host Ed Katersky

Fisher’s 2016 Business Case Simulation Competition – A Student Perspective

Reardon, Megan 2016

 

By Megan Reardon
Sophomore, Finance Major
The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business

 


With many risk industry professionals retiring in the next 10 years, the Enterprise Risk Management field is experiencing a bottleneck. That being said, it is a great time for students to get involved in the industry. The number of risk management jobs increase every year, with great opportunities for quick movement up company management. However, hiring companies want to see that students are interested in the challenges and diverse job titles of risk managers. I have found that through The Risk Institute at Fisher, as well as the Risk Management Association, I have had opportunities to build my business acumen and meet with industry professionals. Recently, I was the given the opportunity to compete in a business simulation with other students, both graduate and undergraduate.

On April 14, 2016, The Risk Institute and the Risk Management Association co-hosted a “pre-dinner” for the business simulation, where the students had the opportunity to meet with other risk students, as well as Phil Renaud, Executive Director of The Risk Institute, and Denita Strietelmeier, Program Manager at The Risk Institute and RMA’s advisor. Phil and Denita had the opportunity to speak about what the goals of the Risk Institute are and why risk is important to companies. This event gave students the opportunity to meet the students they would be working with in a more casual setting, laying the foundation for a successful business simulation.

IMG_5120

Megan Reardon’s team for the 2016 Fisher Risk Management Business Simulation Competition

The following day, April 15, 2016, The Risk Institute and Risk Management Association co-sponsored Fisher’s first risk-centered business simulation. The all-day event provided an opportunity for the students to experience risk management from a practical perspective. Specifically, the simulation was a business continuity exercise focused on operational and supply chain risk. Students worked as a team to create a comprehensive reaction plan based on incident response, business resumption, recovery and restoration. There were four teams comprised of 3-4 members each, as well as coaches and judges from the Fisher College of Business and DHL. Participating in this event was both an educational experience as well as a great opportunity to network with other students also interested in risk. Though my team didn’t place first, I learned about the importance of corporate crisis management after a disaster. More broadly, the business simulation reiterated that Risk Management is heavily involved in both small business decisions as well as larger corporate strategies.


Megan Reardon will be spending the upcoming summer as a Supply Chain/ Logistics Intern at Rockwell Automation.  She will return to Fisher College of Business for her junior year and will serve as Vice President of the Risk Management Association.

Business Continuity Management: A Business Case Simulation

Risk Institute Portraits Fisher Hall - Third Floor Feb-02-2016 Photo by Jay LaPrete ©2016 Jay LaPrete

By  Philip S. Renaud II, MS, CPCU
Executive Director, The Risk Institute
The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business

 


Each and every day, businesses face the challenge of managing in the face of disruption. That disruption may be a result of a supply chain failure, natural catastrophe, cyber event, the list of disruptions goes on and on. With the volatility that businesses face, the need to structure proper business continuity / critical incident management plans has never been more important.

According to a recent study authored by Allianz Global Corporate and Specialty, 58% of participants reported that Business Interruption (including supply chain disruption) was a key risk to their businesses.  The Aon Global Risk Management Survey 2015 also lists business interruption as one of the top ten risks facing companies.

To quote Tony Hayward following the gulf oil blast that killed 11 workers and caused one of the worst environmental disasters in US history:

BP’s contingency plans were inadequate. We were making it up day to day. What was going on was some extraordinary engineering. But when it was played out in the full glare of the media as it was, of course it looked like fumbling and incompetence.”

With this in mind, The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business, held a business case simulation exercise for students on April 15th. The event was cosponsored by The Risk Management Association (a student-led organization) and The Risk Institute. Participating students were divided into teams and presented with a fact-based scenario.  Students were then asked to prepare action strategy against the following “4 R” components:

  • Response (Protect Life and Property, Manage the Incident)
  • Resumption (Resumption of Time Sensitive Operations)
  • Recovery (Recovery of Other Operations)
  • Restoration (Repair/Restore Facilities and Content)

Students worked diligently during the day exercise to think through options, respond to life and safety concerns, communication challenges, manage customer expectations, etc.

Judges for the event were:

  • Keely L. Croxton, Associate Professor of Logistics, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University
  • A. Michael Knemeyer, Assistant Professor of Logistics, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, and;
  • Daniel Oglevee, Senior Lecturer in Finance, Academic Director of The Fisher Executive MBA Program, The Ohio State University.

Business Coach for the event was Gregory Clark, a graduate of The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business.  Greg is now Global Lead, Business Continuity DHL Supply Chain. Greg provided very meaningful coaching for the students as they worked through the simulation exercise.

Students were pleased to be able to participate in an exercise that provided the opportunity to exercise material presented in the classroom with a real world, hands-on scenario. The Risk Institute is pleased to have an opportunity to prepare our students for events that they will experience once in business. As has been said on numerous occasions, anyone can manage an organization when things are going well – it is when things become difficult that true leaders emerge.

The session proved thought-provoking for the students and demonstrated The Risk Institute’s unique role in uniting students, industry thought leaders, academics and highly respected practitioners in an ongoing dialog to advance the understanding and evolution of risk management. The Risk Institute’s conversation about risk management is open and collaborative with its relevance across all industries and its potential for competitiveness and growth.

 


For more information about upcoming events, our students, partners or research, visit our website: fisher.osu.edu/centers/risk.

The Risk Management Association – A Bridge Between Students and Risk Professionals

Yuqi Wen 2016

By Yuqi Wen
Fisher College of Business
Class of 2016

 


In September 2012, I was a sophomore, and an email from one of my professors caught my attention. In the email, the professor pointed out the growing importance of the risk industry, and yet he lamented on the lack of a risk group at The Ohio State University serving as a professional organization for students. Several of my classmates and I responded to the challenge, and we partnered with The Risk Institute to build the Fisher College of Business chapter of Risk Management Association (RMA).

RMA

As a bridge between OSU students and risk management professionals, RMA aims to offer prospective graduates opportunities to connect with experienced risk practitioners as well as with public and private organizations operating in a world of continuous and unexpected risk. The reality is that risk management plays a significant role for every company’s sustainable development, and we hope our student organization can help bring best practices to light.

Our organization could not stand alone. We are blessed with the support of The Risk Institute, a consortium of leading academics and forward-thinking companies developing cutting-edge risk management practices. Through collaborations with The Risk Institute, our student members are granted exposure to new research along with a wide variety of prospective employers in the field.

To help advance students in their knowledge and in their involvement in the risk industry, RMA has hosted a series of guest speakers. Among the highlights from the last year are:

  • Greg Adams, director of management and financial reporting at AEP, who spoke on governance and culture
  • Jamie Jones, lead meteorologist at NetJets Aviation, Inc., who discussed weather disruption and its impact on the aviation industry
  • Helen Patton, OSU’s chief information security officer, who spoke about IT security
  • Donovan Gibson, vice president of analytics at JP Morgan Chase who spoke about the important role analytics plays in managing risk
  • Elizabeth Wilber, senior manager of advisory services at EY who spoke about how organizations can better manage and benefit from risk
yuqi wen pace setters 2016

Yuqi Wen was honored with a Pace Setters Award, the college’s top honor, in the spring of 2016.

A favorite event of the RMA students is The Risk Institute’s Annual Conference, held in the fall, in which members have the unique opportunity to volunteer and help coordinate the event. I have attended this conference the last two years, and I personally have benefited from the networking opportunities with faculty from other colleges within OSU and most importantly with industry leaders.

This spring, RMA also held a case simulation competition in which members worked together in teams to utilize their general business knowledge and risk management skills to propose the best solution to the given problem. The RMA’s year concluded with the Annual Banquet, which gave students networking opportunities with risk professionals while raising awareness of RMA and its goals.

My involvement in the RMA has enriched my college experience. Ultimately, it has helped deepen my understanding of risk beyond the classroom and advance my ability to solve problems and to conduct research on the risk industry.


Yuqi Wen served as president of the RMA during the 2015-2016 academic year, and will graduate from Fisher College of Business in May 2016 with a Bachelor of Business Administration, Accounting and Finance.  She is an honor student, has been on the Dean’s List since December 2012, and a recipient of Fisher’s Pace Setters Award in 2016.  After graduation, Wen will begin her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers.