The Rise and Evolution of the Chief Risk Officer:
Enterprise Risk Management at Hydro One by Tom Aabo, Aarhus School of Business, John R. S. Fraser, Hydro One, Inc., and Betty J. Simkins, Oklahoma State University

T

he Chinese symbols for risk shown above capture a key aspect of enterprise risk management. The first symbol represents “danger” and the second “opportunity.” Taken together, they suggest that risk is a strategic combination of vulnerability and opportunity. Viewed in this light, enterprise risk management represents a tool for managing risk in a way that enables the corporation to take advantage of valueenhancing opportunities. A missed strategic opportunity can result in a greater loss of (potential) value than an unfortunate incident or adverse change in prices or markets.
As in the past, many organizations continue to address risk in “silos,” with the management of insurance, foreign exchange risk, operational risk, credit risk, and commodity risks each conducted as narrowly focused and fragmented activities. Under the new enterprise risk management
(ERM) approach, all would function as parts of an integrated, strategic, and enterprise-wide system.1 And while risk management is coordinated with senior-level oversight, employees at all levels of the organization are encouraged to view risk management as an integral and ongoing part of their jobs.
While there are theoretical arguments for corporate risk management,2 the main drivers for the implementation of
ERM systems have been studies such as the Joint Australian/

New Zealand Standard for Risk Management, Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission
(COSO) in the U.S. (in response to the control problems in the S&L industry), the Group of Thirty Report in the U.S.
(following derivatives disasters in the early 1990s), CoCo
(the Criteria of Control