When it is appropriate for a chief risk officer (CRO) or an equivalent senior risk executive to be in place, the board of directors, management, and the company’s shareholders all have a stake in that executive’s success. This is the time for the organization to consider a fundamental question, “Is that executive, as well as risk management in general, positioned to be successful within the organization?”

Like all C-suite executives, the CRO has a difficult job. To be effective, he or she must have a prominent and meaningful voice in the C-level dialogue. Poor positioning of the CRO leads to a risk management failure. This issue of Board Perspectives: Risk Oversight reviews the elements that enable the CRO to be successful.