Keynote speakers

We are delighted to welcome our keynote speakers who reflect the international status of IRM and provide a fascinating mixture of academic rigour and practical experience.

NASA’s Risk Management System
Dr Jeevan Perera, Risk Manager, National Aeronautic and Space Administration

Root cause analysis of NASA’s 2003 Columbia Shuttle disaster uncovered serious problems with risk planning, monitoring and control within the organisation. Dr Perera will explain how, since that event, NASA has worked to develop a rigorous risk management approach including procedures to identify, analyze, track and control elements of risk, and ensure effective contingency planning. NASA’s risk processes, tools and systems are now deployed across the whole enterprise and integrated with other decision making processes including systems engineering and analysis, project control of budgets and schedules, regulatory requirements and safety and mission assurance needs. Looking to the future, Dr Perera will outline the key design and operational risks relating to new space exploration initiatives including the Orion project – NASA’s new spacecraft which will replace the Space Shuttle, service the International Space Station, then return astronauts to the moon and eventually mount human expeditions to Mars.

Dr. Jeevan Perera works at NASA, Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. He has been the risk manager for several key manned space programs including the International Space Station and the Orion Spacecraft. Prior to moving into risk management, he worked in different technical fields in support of many NASA programs and projects, including primary and back-up flight software for the Space Shuttle and International Space Station missions.

Risk Literacy
Gerd Gigerenzer, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin

Many experts, laypeople, journalists and politicians alike do not understand what statistical evidence means and consistently draw wrong conclusions. Risk literacy is however a necessary pre-condition for an educated citizenship in a democracy. Asking critical questions can also shape the emotional climate in a society so that hopes and anxieties are no longer as easily manipulated from outside and citizens can develop an informed and more relaxed attitude to health, money and other precarious things. Focusing on medical and financial risks, Professor Gigerenzer will show how risk illiteracy is exploited but also how people can be taught to deal efficiently with uncertainties.

Professor Gigerenzer is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin and former Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago and John M Olin Distinguished Visiting Professor, School of Law at the University of Virginia. He is also the director of the Harding Center for Risk Literacy, Berlin, Batten Fellow at the Darden Business School, University of Virginia, and Fellow of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and the German Academy of Sciences. His award-winning popular books “Reckoning with Risk – Learning to live Live with Uncertainty” and “Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious” have been translated into 18 languages. “Rationality for Mortals” his most recent book, investigates decisions under limited time and information. Gerd’s extensive work on heuristics, social intelligence and bounded rationality mean that he is considered one of the most influential psychologists of our time.

Cyber Crime and Cyber Warfare: the threat to the Critical National Infrastructure and the economy
Paul Dwyer, Security GRC Principal, Eircom Group

Security expert Paul Dwyer will explain the complex and extensive underground business of cyber crime and explore the motivations and rewards of the participants in this virtual economy. He will delve into the link between cyber crime, cyber terrorism and warfare and will also outline the threats posed to business, the Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) and the economy from this activity.

Paul is an internationally recognised information security expert with over 21 years experience. He is a qualified hacker and forensic investigator and has worked and trained with such organisations as the US Secret Service, Scotland Yard, FBI, National Counter Terrorism Security Office (MI5). He is a founder of the International Cyber Threat Task Force (ICTTF), a non profit group formed to provide an international cross sector community of peers to deal with all aspects of cyber threats.

Jungle Risk Management – Risk lessons from the African Bush
Gert Cruywagen, Group Risk Manager, Tsogo Sun Group

Ever think the saying “it’s a jungle out there” related to you and your organisation? Gert Cruywagen’s keynote address explains in an informative and humorous way how animals in the African bush manage their risks (or not) to avoid becoming prey. It then relates these risk strategies to modern day organizations. Packed with fascinating facts about animals of the African bush, as well as practical risk management insights, this talk compares behaviour in the jungle to corporate strategies – both failures and successes. Award-winning risk manager, speaker, author and wild-life enthusiast, Gert Cruywagen explains the valuable survival lessons that organisations can learn from the animals of the African bush. He does this with facts, stories, case studies and anecdotes that are fascinating, informative and funny – illustrated with unique and colourful photographs. This is a new and different way to look at Risk Management!