Author: Todd Stearn-Raskin is a Director of Risk Management at Metropolitan Behavioral health (USA) with experience spanning enterprise risk management, operational risk, investigations, governance, and compliance leadership within regulated environments. His professional background includes 27 years in law enforcement, compliance-focused consultative sales, and executive-level risk oversight within healthcare operations.
One of the biggest misconceptions about Enterprise Risk Management is that effective risk leaders only come from traditional audit, finance, or compliance backgrounds. In reality, many of the strongest operational risk leaders develop their skills in environments that require rapid judgment, accountability, leadership, communication, and the ability to navigate uncertainty in real time.
In my experience, one of the most overlooked challenges in Enterprise Risk Management is not framework design, but consistency in operational execution. Many organizations have strong governance structures, policies, and reporting mechanisms on paper. The challenge often emerges in fast-moving operational environments where communication weakens, escalation pathways become inconsistent, and accountability varies across departments and leadership levels.
Operational risk management is ultimately about more than documentation and oversight. It requires leaders who understand how organizations function under pressure, how people respond to uncertainty, and how operational decisions influence enterprise-wide outcomes. Risk visibility frequently breaks down not because organizations lack policies, but because execution becomes inconsistent across operational teams.
My own path into Risk Management was not traditional. The first 27 years of my career were spent in law enforcement, followed by time in compliance-related sales before transitioning into Risk Management leadership. While those environments may appear very different on the surface, they all developed skills that directly apply to operational and enterprise risk oversight.
One of the most valuable lessons I learned early in my career was the importance of sound judgment and escalation awareness. In high-pressure environments, leaders are constantly assessing risk, prioritizing competing concerns, and making defensible decisions with incomplete information. That same mindset applies directly to operational risk leadership. Effective risk management is rarely about eliminating uncertainty entirely. More often, it is about improving awareness, strengthening communication, and making better-informed decisions before issues escalate into larger organizational problems.
Another important lesson came later in my career while working in payroll and compliance-related sales. That experience strengthened my understanding of organizational dynamics, executive communication, and the importance of influence. Effective risk leaders cannot rely solely on authority, policies, or governance structures. They must also be able to communicate clearly, build trust, simplify complex issues, and help operational leaders understand why risk decisions matter. Much of that work was done virtually with executives and business owners across the country, reinforcing the importance of communication and relationship-building within hybrid and remote environments.
Some of the strongest operational risk leaders are those who combine governance knowledge with real-world operational experience. Organizations benefit when risk leadership includes individuals who understand both enterprise oversight and the realities of day-to-day operational execution.
At its core, Risk Management is about helping organizations operate more safely, make better decisions, and navigate uncertainty more effectively. The professional backgrounds that prepare leaders for that responsibility may be broader than many organizations traditionally assume.