2022 Women to Watch Awards Americas EMEA
Jennifer Pack Vice president, risk management
Hyatt Hotels Corp.
Chicago
For Jennifer Pack, it was “exhilarating” to move into risk management a dozen years ago from her roles in auditing and compliance. “It’s been really fun and exciting for me.”
She moved to Chicago after studying accounting at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and took a position with PwC, where she spent six years auditing insurance companies, giving her a broad view of the industry.
She moved to Hyatt Hotels in 2007 as a Sarbanes-Oxley expert, working toward the company’s compliance with the 2002 federal anti-fraud law.
It was through this role that she gained an overview of Hyatt’s operations, personnel and overall business. Her work with Sarbanes-Oxley compliance also involved financial management techniques, such as reserving, that are also used in insurance.
The opening into risk management came partially by chance, filling in for a Hyatt colleague out on maternity leave. “So, I did two jobs for like six months,” she said. Her underlying knowledge of insurance functions, coupled with her years of familiarity with Hyatt executives, made her ideal for the role, she said.
The temporary covering role led to a permanent position in Hyatt’s risk management group in 2010. “After some mentoring and reflection,” she decided to make the jump from auditing to risk management “and never really looked back. Now, 12 years later, here I am running the group.”
Her interest in risk management, though, was piqued earlier by a core curriculum class she took in college.
“It was the one class I had in which there was a professional working in the real world teaching the class,” she said. The instructor “was able to give real life experience,” she said.
Ms. Pack “stands out because she is a problem solver, skilled communicator and a fantastic people leader,” said Helen Duann Jorski, treasurer and senior vice president, corporate finance, for Hyatt. “She has recruited and retained a very talented and diverse team and led us through some tough times,” including the COVID-19 outbreak.
