New ‘Federal Risk Academy’ Certificate Program to Launch from Maryland Smith’s Center for Financial Policy

The Center for Financial Policy (CFP) at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business and Deloitte have jointly developed a new risk management training program they will deliver to government financial professionals beginning on Jan. 11, 2022. The certificate program, called the Maryland Smith Federal Risk Academy, will provide thought leadership, training, and special events to federal employees engaged in credit, banking, loans, grants, insurance and other market activities.

“The timing is especially critical; as we’ve seen with the pandemic, crises don’t wait for organizations to get their risk management house in order. Federal agencies and private companies face an array of different risks that require consistent and coordinated risk assessment processes. We’re bringing decades of experience in managing risk to this training program,” says the program’s academic director Clifford Rossi, Professor of the Practice and Executive-in-Residence for Maryland Smith and the CFP. “This outreach targets federal agencies and industry regulators engaged in credit, banking, loan, grants, insurance, and other financial and market activities requiring effective risk management.”

The CFP, in collaboration with Deloitte, is administering the Federal Risk Academy along with Maryland Smith’s Office of Executive Education. A primary component of this collaboration will be virtual, live executive learning sessions on applied risk management topics of interest to federal risk managers and financial regulators. 

Planned modules, in live virtual sessions between Jan. 11 and Feb. 1, include:

• Building a Sustainable Risk Management Program
• ERM and Credit Risk
• Cyber Risk and Mitigation for Regulators
• Risk Modeling and Governing
• Liquidity and Capital Risks
• Operational and Regulatory Risk Management
• Climate Change and Financial Risk Management

“We are excited to be working with the University of Maryland on such an important training and development program. This program is timely and structured to help leaders think through the multitude of considerations coming at lending, regulatory, and financial services clients to manage their overall risk exposure,” says Deloitte Program Liaison Robert Stradtman, Principal, Deloitte Transactions and Business Analytics LLP.

As a preview for the training, Maryland Smith, in collaboration with Deloitte, offers a series of live panel discussions on the topic of Federal Risk Management. The next one, titled, “A Scientist's Take on Climate Models and Risk Management Applications,” will be held on Nov. 17, 2021, from 10-11 am EDT.

In August, they presented a discussion titled, “Elevating your Cyber Security Risk Management Awareness and Capabilities,” featuring Clifford Rossi and Tim Li, a principal at Deloitte & Touche LLP and cyber leader in Deloitte’s government and public services practice.

Maryland Smith is also offering free 45-minute informational webinars about the Federal Risk Academy. During these webinars, they will discuss program details and answer any questions:

• October 18, 2021, at 7 p.m. EDT – Register for the October 18 webinar.
• November 8, 2021, at 1 p.m. EDT
• November 30, 2021, at 4 p.m. EDT
• December 15, 2021, at 7 p.m. EDT
• December 28, 2021, at 11 a.m. EDT
• January 5, 2022, at 12 noon EDT

For Rossi’s part, he’s developing the Federal Risk Academy curriculum based on his 25 years of experience in banking and government. During the 2008–2009 financial crisis, he was chief risk officer for Citigroup's Consumer Lending Division, overseeing the risk of the bank’s $300 billion secured consumer asset portfolio. Recently, he completed an empirical study on the impact of hurricane frequency and intensity on mortgage default risk. He presented the work to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), advising how it can directly link climate events to mortgage risk using a statistical modelling technique.

Such insight, reinforced by Deloitte’s risk management experience, makes this training a valuable resource for industry professionals, says Cynthia Vitters, Managing Director and leader of Deloitte’s Government and Public Services Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) practice at Deloitte & Touche LLP. “We are proud to work with the University of Maryland’s Center for Financial Policy to provide this educational opportunity to risk management professionals that can help them continue to strengthen and sharpen their skills as we continue to promote the use and advancement of ERM principles in government.”

To register for the full certificate program and for more information, visit the program website. The registration deadline is Monday, Jan. 10, 2022, at 11:59 pm. The regular program fee for an individual is $2,995, however, interested students can email rhsmith-execed@umd.edu for discounts for early bird registrations, multiple individuals from the same organization, and University of Maryland and Big 10 alumni.