Chad Jackson, director of risk management at FedEx Corp.,stumbled into finance, but he hasn't taken a wrong step since.After working as a Spanish language teacher after college, Jacksonwanted more control over his life and thought a coffee shop mightbe a fun way to provide for himself and his family.

So he enrolled in business school at Indiana University. It wasa new world, but one where he fit in well, he says. “I just had myeyes opened at that point to the world of business and to the fitthat I had in the business world,” he says. “I found I hadanalytical skills, good critical thinking, and a good strategicmindset.”

Five years working for insurance brokerage Marsh USA as a clientexecutive followed. Then in August 2008, Jackson took on hiscurrent role at $39 billion FedEx just in time for the financialcrisis. “I felt like I got about five years worth of experience in2008 and 2009,” he says.

These days, Jackson, 35, is busy negotiating the best possibleinsurance coverage for all four of FedEx's reporting segments,making sure that if the unthinkable happens, the company willremain sound. Among his recent successes was reducing the cost ofFedEx's aviation insurance while increasing the insurable value ofits fleet by $1.5 billion.

Any lessons learned from that 2008 experience?
Absolutely.It completely changed the way the risk management community and thefinancial community viewed insurers. Rather than solely trustingpublished info from people we had never spoken with before, welooked at every insurer we had—we have about 40 insurers—todetermine how much exposure we had to them and looked at whatpercentage of our risk was with any individual insurer, and whetherthat made sense. We became both analytical and strategic about therelationships we have with insurers.

Do you see risk management as a hot topic infinance?
Enterprise-wide risk management is a bigbuzzword these days. I think most people will tell you, if theythink long enough about it, that enterprise wide risk management isjust good management—managing your company well, insuring that youunderstand the risks that are out there, and avoiding the ones thatyou want to avoid.

What did you like about the insurancefield?
My first couple of years in the business, Iwas poring through insurance policies, thousands of pages in a weekor two. I was making sure they were accurate and met the needs ofmy clients. It was tedious and detail-oriented, but it was a greateducation. What got me passionate about it was the clients. I couldsit down and say to them, “Here are three options, let's talk aboutwhat would make the best sense for you.' It was exciting andmotivating.

What has been your biggest challenge or learningexperience?
My biggest challenge, and also the mostfun I've had, has been coming over to FedEx and learning to workwithin this organization. We have an operating company structure,with four very distinct segments [FedEx Express, FedEx Ground,FedEx Freight and FedEx Services]. It's been striking that balancebetween protecting the balance sheet of the corporation, whilestill understanding and valuing the relationships at the operatingcompany level. The reason it's a challenge is because you have somany different companies to get to know. There are some that havespecific insurance requirements and some that can be handled at theenterprise-wide level. Finding that balance is kind of key to whatwe do.

What has been your most rewardingproject?
Hopefully the most rewarding projects areyet to come, but one of the most fun that I've worked on alreadywas taking on this big challenge of FedEx Express buying a bunch ofnew airplanes and increasing the insurable value of our aviationfleet by over $1 billion. I needed to go to insurers and find theright program structure for that.

I undertook a three-step process, first by meeting individuallywith the insurers and listening to what they thought about FedExand what was important to them. Second, I gathered the rightresources to answer the questions they had, and third, I met withnew insurers who may cover the business a bit differently from whatwe have done in the past.

With those three steps, we were able to not only manage theincrease in our exposure to the insurers, but decrease thepremiums. Couple that with another major placement at around thesame time, and I was riding on a high for a few months.

Did you have a mentor in your career?
Every boss that I've had has been a mentor to a certain extent.I've been very fortunate in that, even in my teaching days. I'velearned a little bit from each of them, but if I could point tosomebody in particular, it's a predecessor of mine here, BenSeward, who was also at Marsh. He really helped me see how to applyanalytics to companies like FedEx. He had also seen things from theperspective of the Marsh client, and he taught me a lot.

What skills would you like to improve?
I'mconstantly working on communicating appropriately with variousparties, to be able to speak to an insurer in insurance terms, anda treasurer in finance terms. Finding the balance between those iskey. I also want to continue to improve my management skills, tomake sure everybody who works in my department is motivated andexcited, and moving in the right direction.

You use some of your teaching skills to help businessstudents at the University of Mississippi. Tell us aboutthat.
University of Mississippi has one of thelargest risk management programs in the nation, and it's at ourback door, an hour's drive from Memphis. What I've done is drivendown and spoken with the risk management classes about a day in thelife of a risk manager. I've talked about what it's taken to get mewhere I am today, and areas that I think can be successful forthem. I also try to help them focus, because as you can see from mybackground, I had very little focus. It's been really successful.Some students have already graduated, and I stay in touch withthem. That's been great. I can utilize my teaching skills, and helpincrease professionalism in our industry.

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