Public sector entities are lagging their private sector counterparts when it comes to enterprise risk management, according to speakers at the Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc.'s annual conference this week in San Diego.
The practice of incorporating enterprise risk management across an organization to create better outcomes has become a mainstay among private firms, yet public entities — facing a multitude of organizational challenges that include government bureaucracies and stricter regulations — tend to silo risk management away from everyday business, said David Dolnick, San Diego-based risk manager for The Brady Cos., a construction firm, at a session on emerging best practices in risk management.
“The farther you get from the source of the data, the less reliable the information,” he said. “Greater specialization only leads to blindness.”
Mr. Dolnick, representing the private sector, joined Joseph Mazza, San Diego-based director of risk management for the state-run MiraCosta Community College District, in helping to describe the key differences in risk management between the public and private organizations and the strengths and weaknesses of each.
There are fewer choices in the public sector because of stricter accountability, said Mr. Mazza, who is also a past-president of the RIMS San Diego chapter. “(There are) many bureaucratic hurdles in the public sector.”
Barry Dillard serves on the Risk & Insurance Management Society Inc.'s board and is the director of claims management for the Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. There, Mr. Dillard, who is a member of RIMS' Central Florida chapter, leads a team of cast members who manage all aspects of the company's claims management program, including compliance operations, workers compensation and general disability claims. Mr. Dillard also teaches business management courses as an associate professor at the University of Phoenix. He received a bachelor of science in marketing from Hampton University and a master of business administration from Webster University. Mr. Dillard recently spoke with Business Insurance Senior Editor Mark A. Hofmann about his professional life and his service with RIMS. Edited excerpts follow.