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AFERM Newsletter: Summit Registration Info, Board & Committee Nominations, and more! |
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Here’s Why You Should Attend
The 2025 AFERM Virtual Summit
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Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) could not be more relevant in the federal government than it is today. As a key resource to prioritize resources, optimize spending, and realize efficiencies, ERM helps agencies achieve their missions and objectives. This Summit is an opportunity to strengthen support for ERM and advance its role as an essential tool for your agency’s success.
On October 21–22, 2025, the 2025 AFERM Virtual Summit, "Mission Possible: Unlocking the Future of Enterprise Risk Management," will explore a critical question: What will ERM look like beyond 2025 — and who will shape its future?
- Hear from experienced speakers leading the conversation on emerging risks and ERM innovation.
- Gain actionable insights through relevant, real-world presentations.
- Expand your network with ERM professionals from diverse industries.
- Sharpen your efforts to embed a risk aware culture and advance organizational resilience.
- Earn CPEs from Summit sessions.
Download our Justification Toolkit, which provides supervisors and decision-makers with a comprehensive justification for employee participation — highlighting the Summit’s alignment with agency goals, its strategic and professional benefits, and the strong return on investment.
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Thank You AFERM Virtual Summit Sponsors!
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AFERM is successful because of its members and their dedication to advancing ERM in the government. If you share that passion and want to play a crucial role in continuing to build AFERM’s reach and capabilities, please join the Board or lead a Committee!
Newly elected Board leaders and appointed Committee co-chairs will start their terms on January 1, 2026.
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Board Leader Volunteer Opportunities
AFERM is looking for nominations to join the Board. Consider joining us in one of these positions for a three-year term:
- President-Elect — the President-Elect becomes the President in year two and the Past President in year three
- President
- Treasurer
- Vice President of Operations
Review the details of the Board positions.
All submissions are due to the Past-President via e-mail at info@aferm.org by COB Wednesday, September 17, 2025.
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Committee Chair Volunteer Opportunities
AFERM is also looking for Committee Co-Chairs. Consider joining us in one of these leadership roles:
- Marketing/Communications Committee Co-Chair
- Membership Committee Co-Chair
- Knowledge Capital Committee Co-Chair
- Infrastructure and Operations Committee Co-Chair
Review the details of the Committee positions.
All submissions are due to the Past-President via e-mail at info@aferm.org by COB Wednesday, September 17, 2025.
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AFERM Webinar — Different Approaches to ERM: Process over Politics
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Join us on Tuesday, September 30 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET for the next AFERM Webinar.
Want to learn the true reality of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) to have an honest conversation about the politics and dynamics of ERM on how to effectively push it forward within your institution or city? Come join Victoria Meadows of University of Maryland, Baltimore and Mel Thomson of Valley Metro to learn to not underestimate how politics can squash your ERM program during all stages of maturity. Learn how to overcome the “knowing about ERM” to actionable items to bring value to your institution. Invest some time in having the conversation of the placement of ERM within your organization or city, bringing champions to the table, and creating an elevator speech to grab individuals’ attention so that they would want to talk to you!
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Victoria Meadows
Assistant Director, Enterprise Risk Management Program,
University of Maryland - Baltimore
Victoria Meadows serves as Assistant Director of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) Program at University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB). As Assistant Director, Victoria leads the way in the development of the ERM program to bring it to new heights through program development, data analytics, project management, strategic plan connection, relationship building across UMB schools and units, and related tasks.
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Mel Thomson
Risk Manager, Valley Metro
Mel Thomson is Valley Metro’s Risk Manager in Phoenix, Arizona. She is developing a new risk management department involving both traditional risk and Enterprise Risk Management. As a risk advisor and facilitator, Mel is designing Valley Metro’s new ERM program to engage executive leaders through the ERM process. Leaders and staff actively engage in identifying, assessing, treating, and monitoring their risks across the organization. Mel places special emphasis on anchoring risk appetite to strategic planning.
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Superagency in the workplace: Empowering people to unlock AI’s full potential: Nearly all organizations, irrespective of sector, have been investing in AI, but less than 1% of those organizational leaders believe that their solutions are at maturity. A research by the McKinsey group from earlier this year finds that long-term potential for AI is great, but the short-term returns are unclear. Less than 1% of the leaders believe that AI is fully integrated into the organization’s workflows and drive substantial business outcomes. The big question is therefore, how business leaders can deploy capital and steer their organizations closer to AI maturity. This report explores companies’ technology and business readiness for AI adoption and concludes that while employees are ready for AI, the biggest barrier to success is leadership. Read more here.
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Leading the Pack to Turn Risk into Strategic Advantage: This article summarizes the Fall 2024 ERM Roundtable Summit conducted by Poole College which focused on strategy and ERM. The Summit highlighted case studies in ERM where companies turned disparate risk management practices into cohesive enterprise risk management efforts to gain momentum and tackle crises such as the COVID pandemic head on. Developing risk partnership networks across the enterprise and connecting staff members responsible for day-to-day management of enterprise risk with leaders up the chain helped provide executive champions for all enterprise risks along with a functional risk partner. Also adopting a forward-looking approach to manage risks of tomorrow v. today helped companies create better contingency plans and implement better monitoring, measuring and reporting. Summit presenters also emphasized the need to communicate across the board, and not just across the communications team. Read more here.
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Join or Renew Your AFERM Membership
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AFERM is the premier professional community for government ERM practitioners. Here are just a few of the benefits that your AFERM membership gives you year-round:
- Access to our online resource library with over 100 contributed artifacts
- “Risk Chats” – the official AFERM podcast
- Educational workshops for ongoing professional development
- Virtual and physical communities through our forums, communities of practice, and book club
- Discount on the annual AFERM Summit
- The latest news and info in ERM.
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