The story of my path into Risk Management (RM) is one of unforeseen circumstances.  RM was not my initial choice during my undergrad studies. I had a passion for Human Resources. My forte consisted of employee administration, training and development, and recruitment. Outside of my normal day to day assignments at work, I would spend my personal time mostly helping people prepare for gainful employment by critiquing their employment portfolios and assisting them with marketing themselves to potential employers. This is what I loved to do!

It was not until shortly after completing my graduate program and obtaining my MBA in Human Resource Management that the position of Risk Analyst was introduced at my place of employment. As an individual that loves to be challenged and learn new things, I applied, and was offered the position. Not having much knowledge about RM, our CFO shared with me the PARMA site. I remember her saying, “This PARMA Association looks like a good place to continue to develop your risk knowledge, and it doesn’t hurt that their membership cost is very reasonable.” So I began my participation with PARMA. 

I have been with PARMA since July 2011. A few months following my initial membership, I was offered to participate on the Central Valley Chapter (CVC) steering committee, and shortly after, I began my service as the CVC Secretary/Treasurer. During my membership with PARMA, I have committed to the Strategic Planning and Conference Planning Committees, attended all required officer trainings, and volunteered to serve on the Outreach Committee. Just being able to surround myself with “Subject Matter Experts” (SME’s) has been a benefit professionally for me. To discover that RM encompassed most elements of HR increased my enthusiasm to learn more and do more.

After six years of service and participation, it seemed to be a natural progression for me to assume more of a leadership role within the association and give back some of the intrinsic knowledge shared with me over the years.

Joining PARMA was an excellent choice for me.  Not only have I enjoyed networking and sharing with others in my profession, but I have also had the opportunity to introduce people to the RM profession. For those that think they may not have the time to be involved, I would suggest to them to always make time to learn as self-development is essential to be your best you!

I feel that one of the major challenges for the future of RM is the acquisition of prepared talent! I see that the failure to attract or retain top talent is a major issue. However, I am thrilled to know firsthand that PARMA has been proactive in putting measures into place to reach out to coming talent by way of partnerships with institutions of higher learning, as well as offering informative risk educational trainings. To me, PARMA is breaking the barrier and closing the gap between risk education and our up and coming workforce.