If you’ve read our first article—The Untapped Potential of Proactive Risk Management—you know that utilities across the country are shifting from compliance driven risk management to more proactive, enterprise-wide approaches. But before you can strengthen your risk practices, it helps to understand where your organization stands today.
Based on our work with utilities across the country, two groups often emerge when assessing risk understanding and readiness: Developing Risk Lens and Advanced Risk Lens. These groups can be helpful starting points to understand your organization's current ERM maturity and identify practical steps to strengthen your approach.
To understand your current ERM maturity, Brown and Caldwell has developed a brief five question self-assessment specific to water and wastewater utilities. This assessment highlights your organization’s understanding of enterprise risk, how consistently you apply ERM tools, and how effectively you connect risks across departments. Based on your results, we've created five recommended actions you can take now to help advance risk management in your organization.
Take the 5 Question ERM Self Assessment
After taking the assessment, you’ll receive an email with your score and five recommendations to advance your organization’s risk maturity.
What Comes Next
Knowing where your organization stands is a powerful starting point—but it’s only part of the journey. Building a mature ERM program requires both a clear understanding of enterprise-wide risk and the leadership capabilities needed to put that understanding into practice.
If you're looking for a deeper foundation, read 👉 The Untapped Potential of Proactive Risk Management to explore why utilities are shifting from compliance-driven approaches to more proactive, strategic risk management.
Ready to take the next step? 👉 Building Risk Leadership for the Water Sector: The Certified Public Risk Officer (CPRO-W2) Program explores how utilities can develop a shared language, practical tools, and the next generation of risk leaders.
Together, these three articles provide a roadmap for strengthening resilience—from understanding risk, to assessing organizational maturity, to building the leadership capacity needed to navigate uncertainty with confidence.
How BC Helps Utilities Build Future Ready Risk Practices
Brown and Caldwell partners with utilities to cultivate transparency, strengthen public trust, and position organizations to navigate future uncertainty with confidence. Our work spans ERM program design, climate readiness, financial risk analysis, governance support, and cross functional facilitation.
Our experts bring national expertise and practical, utility tested strategies to help organizations move from reactive to proactive risk management.
Connect with our team to discuss your organization's challenges, explore practical next steps, and learn how Brown and Caldwell can help build a more resilient, risk-ready future.
About the Expert: Karri Ving
With 25 years of experience, Karri Ving is an acknowledged leader in organizational resilience. Her track record in Enterprise Risk Management and climate readiness has made her a trusted advisor to utilities, boards, and national collaboratives shaping the future of water systems.
Karri serves on the EPA’s Climate Finance Working Group, helping utilities respond to bond market scrutiny and climate related financial risk with transparency and foresight. In 2022, she co-launched the US Water Alliance’s Net Zero Community of Practice and is currently leading the development of climate resilient engineering design guidance with the Water Utility Climate Alliance.
