Among Chad C. Jackson's top challenges after joining Memphis, Tenn.-based FedEx Corp. in 2008 as staff director of risk management was the lack of communication among risk management departments.

Early on, Mr. Jackson saw the need to transform FedEx's risk management function.

“It was the culture of making myopic decisions and not communicating appropriately within the risk community at FedEx,” he said.

Establishing trust and communications among the eight operating companies within FedEx and their risk management teams was critical, Mr. Jackson said.

“It took a lot of communication and effort on my part,” he said, including personal conversations with each operating company, brokers and his management chain to understand how individuals viewed risk and the corporate risk management department.

During his first few weeks on the job, Mr. Jackson recognized that the corporate risk management function was reactionary rather than solution-oriented. To address this, he devised biannual “risk intelligence” meetings.

While FedEx historically held risk management meetings, Mr. Jackson realized that such meetings needed to be conducted face to face and with a broader agenda.

In 2010, he and his team kicked off the risk intelligence meetings. Under his leadership, the meetings focus on knowledge sharing, loss-control initiatives, risk transfer and other risk management issues.

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“That's really created this great environment where we all talk and listen,” he said. “We're trying to advance the way we look at risk as a risk community here. We want to be intelligent about it.”

These regular discussions have led to more cooperation among the operating companies and a united vision of protecting the corporate balance sheet, Mr. Jackson said.

The risk intelligence meetings include insurance brokers, said Mary Sumner, senior vice president and client executive at Marsh Inc. in Memphis.

The Marsh team, which handles FedEx's casualty, financial and environmental coverage and works with Mr. Jackson on gathering data and analytics for various insurance programs, presented at FedEx's February risk intelligence meeting in Memphis.

“It creates a much more collaborative spirit among the (operating companies) and a lot of sharing of ideas and what's going on with their own programs,” Ms. Sumner said.

Mr. Jackson's efforts to foster communication and collaboration among FedEx's risk management departments also have translated into the sharing of safety and loss control knowledge, she said.

“They're really trying, from the risk management perspective, to take a more unified approach, and those meetings have helped a lot in keeping the communication open,” Ms. Sumner said.