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Institutional Profiles of Risk Management - Part 13

By URMIA Staff posted 2 hours ago

  
Institutional Profiles of Risk Management URMIA


Discover what the risk management function/structure looks like at other URMIA member institutions

If You’ve Seen Two Institutions’ Risk Management Structure…

Modifying our favorite phrase from Gary Langsdale, an URMIA past president and former assistant vice president & university risk officer at Penn State University, we would complete the header to say “you’ve seen two institutions’ risk management structure.”

We’re sharing the risk management profile of URMIA institutional members to help you see how others are structured and find some fellow URMIAns that you might want to connect with because you have a question about how they operate.

Institution name

University of Maine System

State University of New York (SUNY) System Administration
Location
Orono, Maine Albany, New York
Institution type
Public Public
How big is your risk management department
3-4 people devoted to risk management responsibilities 2 people devoted to risk management responsibilities
Title of person top risk manager reports to
Chief Facilities & General Services Officer Chief Officer for Risk & Compliance and Special Counsel
Department/division where risk management is housed
Facilities & General Services General Counsel
Areas risk management is responsible for
Alternative Risk Financing, Athletics, Auxiliary Programs, Business Continuity, Casualty Insurance, Claims, Compliance, Crisis/Emergency Management, Emerging Risks, Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), Environmental Health & Safety (EHS), Facilities, Fine Arts & Special Collections, Human Resources, Insurance, International/Travel Abroad, Loss Control, Minors, Procurement, Research, Safety & Security, Strategic Planning, Student Affairs, Student Clubs & Organizations, Technology, Transportation, Travel Enterprise Risk Management (ERM)
Any other information about risk management on your campus that you'd like to share?
Risk management at the University of Maine System operates in a highly collaborative, decentralized environment supporting seven universities and a law school. While formal risk management staffing is limited, responsibilities are distributed across functional areas with strong coordination from the system office. The function plays a key role in systemwide policy development, insurance program administration across multiple campuses, and risk assessments. In addition, risk management conducts proactive auditing and monitoring efforts to identify emerging risks and strengthen compliance and loss prevention strategies. The overall approach emphasizes enterprise risk management principles, leveraging cross-campus partnerships to identify, assess, and mitigate risk while supporting consistency in insurance, claims, and compliance practices and allowing campuses flexibility to address localized risks. We are a system-wide office. There is some existing infrastructure in place, but we are looking to modify/rebuild. We have a chief officer for risk and compliance and special counsel and a director of risk management and compliance. SUNY System Administration has 64 campuses.

4/21/2026
By URMIA Staff


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