The N.A. CRO Council Structure includes an Executive Committee, Governance Committee and five working groups that support the CRO Council’s objectives. Members of the working groups include CRO Council members and associates with relevant expertise. Working group responsibilities may include assessing the potential impact of changes to industry practices, discussing regulatory items with regulators and other external stakeholders, and developing whitepapers to help shape industry discussions on key issues.
Executive Committee
The Executive Committee consists of the Officers of the Council and the Chairpersons of each Working Group of the Council. The Executive Committee is responsible for the management of the property, business, and affairs of the Council and makes recommendations regarding recruitment, development and evaluation activities, and managing third-party relationships.
- Benjamin Rosenthal, New York Life (Chair)
Governance Committee
Responsible for making recommendations related to governance issues, implementation of the Conflicts of Interest Policy, reviewing the council’s organizational documents, and ensuring compliance with the Bylaws.
- Andrea Doss, State Farm (Chair)
Financial Risk working group
Discuss and research risk management practices related to financial risks. These include, but are not limited to, market risks, credit risks, and insurance risks. They also focus on the development of stress testing regimens to provide a view of how the risks behave in through time and under varying degree and shapes of stress. The Financial Risk working group has two standing subgroups: Market Risk and Insurance Risk.
2025 topics covered:
i. Asset Liability Management (ALM)
ii. Insurance Risk and New Products
iii. Reinsurance Risk
iv. Inflation
- Meyrick Douglas, Prudential (Co-Chair)
- Klaus Diem, Nationwide (Co-Chair)
Non-Financial Risk working Group
The Non-Financial Risk working group will focus on discussing, researching, and evaluating risk management practices related to operational and strategic risks. The working group will explore risks associated with inadequate or failed internal processes, people and systems, as well as disruptive threats in the insurance ecosystem that can fundamentally change the businesses in which the insurance industry is engaged (what we do) or a change in execution (how we do it).
2025 topics covered:
i. Fraud Risk
ii. Operational Resilience and Third Party Risk Management
iii. Data Governance and Privacy Risk
iv. Workforce of the Future
- Sarah Williams, Guardian Life (Co-Chair)
- Mary Wagnon, Unum (Co-Chair)
Regulatory & External Relations working group
The Regulatory & External Relations working group will research and discuss issues and opportunities related to North American and international regulations and other important organizations (e.g., rating agencies, professional bodies), enabling the N.A. CRO Council to be an active participant in the evolution of regulation and risk management practices that affect the insurance industry. Such work may include engaging in a dialogue with regulators, rating agencies and other organizations, assessing the potential impact of changes to industry practices and developing content to help shape internal and external constituent discussions on key issues, and influencing the industry toward best risk practices.
2025 topics covered:
i. NAIC Proposals Related to RBC Changes
ii. NAIC GOES Initiative
iii. Academic and Industry Outreach
- Philip Melville, Brighthouse Financial (Co-Chair)
- Jonathan Porter, RGA (Co-Chair)
There may be issues that require the involvement of more than one committee or working group and it will be the responsibility of the chairs to coordinate discussion and action as appropriate.
