When the board of Pepco Holdings Inc. emerged from a planning retreat earlier this year, it had decided to revamp the Washington D.C.?? 1/2 based electric utility's management structure. The

aim was to use enterprise risk management to put a sharp focus on strategic planning.

At the time, Andrew Williams was the company's CFO, a post he had held since the start of 2001. But when the Pepco board determined that it was time to get a grip on risk, it also decided it needed a chief risk officer (CRO)–a new position for Pepco that would manage risks that could derail the utility's long-term strategic initiatives–and Williams would be moved into the job. "We've identified all of the different risks associated with each of our strategic planning initiatives and created a strategic risk dashboard which is color-coded so the board can see where we're most likely to encounter an adverse event," Williams explains.