Michiel Tukker heads up the risk function at Treasury Wine Estates Ltd, an ASX 100 wine producer. As a valued member of Risk Leadership Network, we caught up with him about what drives him and the key challenges for risk professionals in the years ahead.
Meet Michiel
The interview:
1. What's your role at Treasury Wine Estates (TWE)? Can you describe your main responsibilities?
I head up enterprise risk management for TWE, where I engage team members and cultivate risk management practices from vineyard to boardroom.
2. What aspects of risk management do you find most fulfilling?
Risk is central to many of the complex problems that any organisation needs to solve. Although there is no defined playbook for risk management, this provides so many opportunities to apply critical and creative thinking to develop and implement valuable solutions.
3. Are there any specific aspects of your role that you find challenging or less fulfilling?
Risk rating discussions - little value has ever been created from a debate to agree on a high or moderate risk rating. Let's instead debate (or better, find evidence to prove or disprove) the level of confidence we have in our existing mitigations and what we can and need to do differently to deal with the risk appropriately.
4. What specific challenges do you anticipate facing in the months/years ahead as a risk leader?
Be ready for anything. The saying of 'Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans' is especially true in risk management, more than any other role I know.
5. What specific steps is TWE taking to mitigate these challenges?
Prioritising timely risk conversations over formal processes is crucial. While a robust risk management framework is essential, having the right conversation at the right time is what elevates risk management into a valuable capability for the organisation.
6. How long have you been a member of Risk Leadership Network? And why did you join?
About 3 years. Risk Leadership Network gives me access to risk practitioners who are in the trenches like me, and therefore are best positioned to provide meaningful insights and advice.
7. Can you share how Risk Leadership Network has assisted you with a specific challenge?
It is through Risk Leadership Network that I've been able to take the next steps in our risk reporting and Key Risk Indicator development in particular. But the value I get is often more intangible; having a conversation, or seeing how others have approached a topic that sparks new ideas that I can apply to my challenges.
8. What would you say to anyone thinking of joining Risk Leadership Network?
Do it! You'll be joining a network of connected thought leaders that can accelerate your development of solutions to practical challenges. It's my go-to source for assistance in absence of that elusive risk management playbook.
Michiel's engagement manager
Upon joining Risk Leadership Network, Michiel's risk team was given a dedicated risk engagement manager from our team, Andrea. Through onboarding and regular catch-ups, Andrea has worked to gain a clear understanding of TWE's risk priorities and facilitates targeted collaboration to support the team and Michiel directly.
Michiel is a deep thinker and is truly dedicated to driving better ERM practice in his organisation. As the lead risk professional in the organisation, he's a busy man. But he makes extensive use of the network because he sees the value of collaborating with peers on his team's biggest risk challenges. "
Andrea Humphrey
Michiel's engagement manager, Risk Leadership Network
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