Jo Willaert

Nine months have passed since I have switched from the position of Deputy President of FERMA to President, and I can say today that I am a proud President:

I am proud of what we have accomplished in that time, for which I thank my board colleagues and the FERMA staff for their support;

I am proud of taking part in the design and implementation of a new strategic plan for FERMA, about which you will learn more in the coming months;

And I am proud of our network, which is growing and becoming more influential for the benefit of the risk managers’ community.

Our themes for my presidency are LEADERSHIP – COMMUNICATION – EDUCATION, and I would like to pick out some of our achievements and plans under these headings.

When it comes to leadership, FERMA is the single recognised voice of European risk managers and, as such, its primary mission is to represent the interests of its member associations and their members to the European institutions. Lobbying activities, therefore, have been intensified to strengthen our political impact and promote the fundamental role of risk managers and the value of ERM methodology to EU institutions and other international organisations.

Our member associations are our reason for being. COMMUNICATION with them is absolutely essential for us to deliver tangible added-value. We also want more interaction between members and for members to become more involved in FERMA’s activities. Part of the way we are encouraging this is to enhance members’ feeling of belonging to a European network. We have produced a booklet about the network, which will be enriched over the coming months with more data and information. You can download ithere.

I am proud of our certification project rimap®. We took the initiative, and we are leading a trend that is being followed worldwide. This is the evidence that we in FERMA and our associations are the pioneers of the professionalism in risk management. Rimap is a long journey, but it is paying off.

Having focused so much on EDUCATION in 2016, I can tell you that 2017 will be the year of LEADERSHIP. The 2017 FERMA Forum will be in Monte Carlo from 15-18 October, and we have already chosen as our theme ‘Risk Manager in Pole Position’.  It is an appropriate title for Monte Carlo, and for us, too, because it conveys images of risk, performance, anticipation, prevention, crisis management, team spirit and new technologies. The connection with the profession is self-evident.