Associate Vice President, Chief Risk Officer
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA - United States
Carnegie Mellon University seeks a dynamic, collaborative and visionary industry leader to serve as their next Associate Vice President and Chief Risk Officer (CRO).
Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private, internationally ranked research university with programs in areas ranging from science, technology, and business to public policy, the humanities, and the arts. Artificial Intelligence – AI – was born at CMU more than half a century ago, and the University has assembled a critical mass of inquiring minds, state-of-the-art research facilities, and financial resources to create technologies that will change the world for the better in health, manufacturing, sustainability, and many other fields. CMU supports a global community of 15,000 students hailing from 127 countries, faculty representing 63 countries, and alumni representing 147 countries.
Reporting directly to the University’s Vice President for Operations, the CRO will lead the Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) department of 25 staff members with 5 direct reports and will oversee a $4.6 million Emergency Risk Management portfolio. Functional areas within ERM include disaster recovery and business continuity, emergency preparedness and response, environmental health and safety, and risk operations. The CRO serves as an objective and unbiased advisor to risk owners and stakeholders throughout the University, periodically responsible for communicating the University’s risk priorities to Executive Management and the Board of Trustees.
In addition, the CRO will:
- Assess and implement effective business continuity and disaster recovery measures across CMU.
- Develop and deploy the core ERM toolset including risk identification, assessment, prioritization, mitigation, monitoring, reporting templates, and communication tools.
- Enhance Emergency Response Procedures, including broad-based training, designation of responsibilities, and improved emergency protocols.
- Establish and maintain a governance framework that includes local risk perspective and escalates critical risk intelligence to executive leadership.
- Identify safety concerns and regularly convene stakeholders to ensure holistic awareness and coordination of mitigation activities.
- Lead projects to develop and execute risk reduction strategies for key strategic initiatives.
- Maintain the risk inventory and periodically update CMU’s enterprise risk profile for discussion with executive management and the Board of Trustees.
- Work with risk owners to complete periodic risk analysis and develop risk documentation and reporting, including for regulatory requirements that the University is subject to.
- Work with University Police to develop a campus awareness and action education program.
The ideal candidate will have the ability to work seamlessly across the entire institution, establishing themselves as a trusted colleague in all areas of the University. They must possess the capability to encourage others to think differently and build trust, positioning themselves as a strategic partner in risk management. Significant experience in risk management and a bachelor’s degree is required; a master’s degree is preferred.
Please direct all nominations and inquiries to Christy Pratt, Ben Haden, and Jess Cummings at: [email protected]. Applications should include, as separate documents, a CV or résumé, and a letter of interest addressing the themes in this profile. Application materials should be submitted by clicking the buttons below.