By Adam Turteltaub

Melinda Shapiro, Senior Director of Compliance at San Diego-based National University, knew she needed to do something different with the school’s approach to enterprise risk management (ERM). When she took on the compliance role, she discovered that risks tended to be aggregated into large buckets, such as human capital, which made it difficult to assess individual risks. In addition, risk ratings varied widely by affiliate.

Adding to the challenge, the document produced took a narrative approach, with long explanations of the risks and mitigation efforts. Sometimes there was a lack of alignment between risks and controls. Worse, the format made it difficult to track changes year to year.

Inspiration came from speaking with two other participants at the SCCE Higher Education Compliance Conference. She was able to see a new way of approaching ERM, including switching from a one-year to a two-year cycle.

The results have been highly positive. She reports that there is a much better understanding of risks and controls. In addition, there is now better alignment and very strong support from the board’s audit committee.

Listen in to learn more about what she did differently, how she learned from others, and new ways to think about your own ERM process.