OUR PRESIDENT
James Lam is a trusted risk advisor, public and private company director, best-selling author, and keynote speaker.
James is globally recognized as a risk expert, an early advocate of ERM, and the first-ever CRO. His best-selling ERM books have been translated into various languages and adopted by top college degree and professional certification programs. James has been published and quoted in over 200 articles, including the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, The Economist, NACD Directorship, Forbes, Financial Times, and CFO Magazine.
For each engagement, James brings a unique blend of risk management experiences spanning executive, consulting, and board roles. His leadership as a CRO, risk consultant, and corporate director has been recognized by GARP, Euromoney, and NACD, respectively. This trifecta of professional experiences is a key differentiation and enables James to engage with clients at a deeper level and produce results in a pragmatic way.
The Global Association of Risk Professionals named James as the first-ever Risk Manager of
the Year in 1997 in recognition of “outstanding achievement in, and contributions to, the risk management profession.”
Chief Risk Officer
As CRO, James has implemented ERM programs at GE Captial Markets Services and Fidelity Investments. He has addressed implementation challenges such as obtaining buy-in from corporate directors and executives, managing organizational change, and demonstrating value. Treasury and Risk Magazine named James “100 Most Influential People in Finance,” in 2005, 2006, and 2008.
Management Consultant
James has worked with a wide range of companies and industries around the world. He knows what works, what doesn’t, and how to efficiently implement ERM. A client, Recology, received the prestigious RIMS 2019 Global ERM Award of Excellence. Prior to JLA, James was Founder and President at ERisk and Partner and Global ERM Practice Leader at Oliver Wyman.
In a 2005 global survey conducted by Euromoney, James was nominated by clients and other consultants as one of the world’s top risk consultants.
The National Association of Corporate Directors honored James in 2017 and 2018 in the NACD Directorship 100 in recognition of
“individual directors who serve as role models in promoting exemplary board leadership, oversight, and courage in the boardroom.”
Board Member
James has private and public company board experience. He respects the “nose in, fingers out” principle yet believes directors should play an active role in risk oversight. His experience includes Risk Oversight Committee Chair at E*TRADE (an S&P500 company), Audit Committee Chair at RiskLens, Director of Covarity, and Vice Chairman of ERisk. In 2017, Directors & Boards magazine named James as one of the “Diversity Directors to Watch.”
“James has been actively involved with NACD for years as a member of our faculty, a Blue Ribbon Commissioner, and a speaker at a variety of events. His boardroom experience and command of ERM, along with his ability to engage with the audience has brought him great reviews at our sessions. It is always a pleasure to see him on our event agendas, as I know our members will be engaged in an informative and relevant session.”
Peter R. Gleason
Chief Executive Officer
National Association of Corporate Directors