Meet our Member: Peter Elam, Group Head of Risk and Assurance at Anglo American

How did Anglo American's Group Head of Risk and Assurance start out in risk management and what are the biggest risk challenges ahead? We're delighted to introduce you to Risk Leadership Network member, Peter Elam.

Meet Peter

Peter Elam

Group Head of Risk and Assurance at Anglo American

The interview:

What's your role at Anglo American? Can you describe your main responsibilities?

I am the Group Head of Risk and Assurance at Anglo American. I look after enterprise risk management, internal audit, investigations, ethics and compliance and insurance.

How long have you been a member of Risk Leadership Network? And why did you join?

Almost three years ago. I joined because I'm always curious about what peers are doing. We're not perfect and there's always more to learn through collaboration.

How did you get into risk management? And what do you enjoy about it?

I first got into risk management at Shell in the late 90s. We were one of the adopters of modern enterprise risk management back then. We were using bubble charts, where the risk was plotted on an x-y axis of likelihood impact — the first risk matrix, you could say! It was already in place at operations and safety level, but it was at that time that it was applied at the enterprise risk level.

Are there any parts of the job you really dread?

I dread risk rating discussions with the exec! Using the bubble chart example above, "should the bubble be very slightly to the left, or slightly to the right?".

What are the main challenges facing risk leaders in the years ahead - and in your sector specifically?

What can we do as risk professionals that generative AI can't do? The traditional role of gathering information, analysing it, compiling it and presenting it can be done quite well by generative AI. The role of risk managers will probably evolve to help facilitate management of risk insights into the businesses' day-to-day activities. The social understanding of risk within the business and stakeholders is key.

What are you doing at Anglo American to make sure that you're in the best place to address those challenges?

Consulting with the business to find out what risk and opportunity discussions they want to have at the executive level, so I can find out what is useful for them and what leads to useful business decisions.

What's the biggest value add you get from Risk Leadership Network membership? 

Getting practical ideas from other members. I love thrashing out ideas in a group discussion. I also like the diverse membership Risk Leadership Network has, beyond the metals and mining industry.

Can you describe how Risk Leadership Network helped you with a specific challenge?

I like attending the periodic UK corporate governance reform meetings. After going through many high level discussions with consulting and law firms, it is great to hear some really practical experience from risk peers.

What Risk Leadership Network does really well is that you set the agenda and step back and let the discussion and answers manifest among risk peers. It's not all about having the answers to every single question —just sitting in a meeting with other professionals allows me to pick out a couple of valuable insights to take back to Anglo and take into consideration.

What would you say to anyone thinking of joining Risk Leadership Network?

Try it if you are keen to learn through peer discussions and want practical insights!

Is Risk Leadership Network worth the membership fee?

Yes - otherwise I wouldn't still be a member.

If I wasn't a risk leader...

..life would be a lot less interesting!

Peter's network manager

Upon joining Risk Leadership Network, Peter's risk team was given a dedicated network manager from our team, Benedict. Through onboarding and regular catch-ups, Benedict has worked to gain a clear understanding of Anglo American's risk priorities and facilitates targeted collaboration to support these and Peter directly.

Peter shares our core beliefs - that collaboration is the best way for risk leaders to effectively share practical insights. As he said, no company is perfect with their risk management, and he sees immense value in tapping into the practical experience of his peers. Despite being a busy man, he still gives back to the network by sharing his own expertise and regularly contributes to bespoke benchmarks and collaborative meetings.

Benedict Lam

Peter's network manager, Risk Leadership Network

How to join Risk Leadership Network

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