Who is Lene Ritz, our winner for The Public Sector Risk Manager of the Year Award?
The key elements of my nomination
I’m a very perseverant and engaged person and Enterprise Risk Management and Insurance is my passion. Therefore being nominated and shortlisted amongst so many esteemed colleagues means a lot to me.
The key elements in the nomination from DARIM was for my strongest merit, which has been to prepare and revitalize Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) in both Energinet’s Executive Board, Board of Directors, the entire project organization and in the entire day – to – day operations.
Secondly, I have as the first in Denmark established a contract for both brokerage services and advice on ERM to ensure a holistic approach, forcing ERM and the insurance market to improve risk management skills.
In total meaning implementing COSO-ERM for the support of the total control environment – that’s the basis for the nomination.
What did I develop?
I have and will proceed with perseverance with the development, implementation, and dissemination of the important message about ERM and insurance – and hopefully, continuously leave a fingerprint on the professional ERM environment and the holistic use of insurance products.
I have developed a risk system in Energinet so that there can be a close connection between the strategic, tactical and operational level by developing a governance system supported by a tool which fits our Group.
A system always have to be designated as the relevant company!
Both for learning – and influencing purposes I established networks with peers and tirelessly influencing the way peers to perceive ERM and insurance management. The opportunity to meet peers and learn from them from each other is enormous.
Which challenges did I turn into opportunities?
The challenges with the company risk culture have been overcome with interpersonal competencies as persistence, firmness of principle, proactivity to influence the organizations’ approach to Risk Management.
Therefore the challenges transformed into a major demand from the Group especially from the operational levels for help and guidance. Suddenly there was a solid opportunity for implementing an ERM process – base on selling the good message.
The challenge with having two separate, not cost-effective processes i.e. one for ERM and the ‘old’ one we had for insurance purposes – those two processes were turned into one process. That meant that the insurance process gained extremely high effectiveness from the ERM process – really quantifying into savings in costs and resources. So now only one process.
-In all modesty this challenge and thereby the opportunity today – due to the insurance market situation – has set this in perspective – so I’m happy it was done in our Group in time and also in general that we can harvest the effectiveness via collaboration between ERM and Insurance.
The next challenge is to keep the setup running and having the perseverance and engagement for it.
Does winning the award play a role?
This event draws the attention not only to the work done within the profession but also draws the attention to FERMA and the total profession. It gives positive attention from the stakeholders. Which could be the accounting profession, leaders in top management positions across Europe and at the company level. It sets the spotlight on a vital profession and resource in the decision-making process. So join the Award!
What did the judges say about the winner:
Lene Ritz has developed, implemented and spread the message of ERM and insurance setup within Energinet, a critical infrastructure business. She has put her fingerprint on the professional ERM environment and the holistic use of insurance products. Lene has improved knowledge sharing of risk management within Europe by developing networks with peers and influencing the way they perceive ERM and insurance management.
Register now to participate to the Awards Ceremony
Join us for the Live Ceremony on Friday 11 December from 16:30 – 17:30 CET, when the winner of this category will be revealed.
Find out about the other finalists of the European Risk Management Awards 2020
Find out who are the winners of 2020 edition!