CFO's and risk management.

I have recently worked with CFO's placing insurance and working through letters of credit that support large deductible workers' compensation programs. I came away from those experiences realizing that the person in an organization that should be most aware what risks may close their doors has little understanding of how risk works. When you look at the average curriculum of any business school, the CFO or any other senior business professional will likely never take a course on risk management. Yet, much of the success of any business hinges on understanding the upside of a risk as well as the downside. If CEO's do not understand risks and risk management, are we doomed to see more WAMU failures, more Bear Stearns disappearances, and most importantly, the dissipation of our retirement funds? Stay tuned.