“A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for,” wrote John A. Shedd in his 1928 collection Salt From My Attic. Private companies and their management teams work to create value. To do that, they cannot stay “in harbor”; instead, they need to take risks to increase their value and achieve their strategic objectives. But as the business world has seen over the past few years, with the COVID-19 pandemic, record inflation, devastating cyberattacks, and more, taking risks is riskier than ever. Boards, while exercising their duty of care, need to oversee the company’s risk management processes to ensure that they have the appropriate frameworks, practices, and policies in place to deal with the impact of unforeseen events...

Roberta Sydney, NACD.DC, is a former CEO, a former Fortune 500 executive, and a seasoned director. She serves as chair of Buttcon Holdings, a private employee-owned Canadian construction company, and on the board of Apollo Realty Income Solutions, a public real estate investment trust. She held senior positions at financial services companies including State Street Global Advisors and The Boston Co. before founding, growing, and successfully exiting her own real estate development company.