Grace Crickette is the University of California’s Chief Risk Officer. Ms. Crickette joined the university in December 2004 after 13 years as a Vice President and Officer in audit, insurance, safety, and human resources capacities for the equipment and construction industry. Ms. Crickette graduated with distinction from the University of Redlands with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and holds a variety of designations in the areas of claims, safety, audit, and human resources. Major initiatives for the risk services department include reducing the cost of risk, implementing system and local safety programs, improving claims management systems, developing risk financing strategies, and implementing Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), emergency management, and business continuity planning throughout the university.

In 2008, Ms. Crickette received the Risk Innovator Award for innovation and excellence in risk management in higher education.  Ms. Crickette is recognized as a leader in her field for many reasons:  universities are almost impossible to cyber insure, yet thanks to Grace’s innovative problem solving and a collaborative partnership with the UC’s Chief Information Officer and other IT professionals, insurance brokers, and underwriters a creative solution was born – the “reverse underwriting” approach of cyber insurance.  Through the efforts of Grace and her team, the UC recently secured much needed cyber coverage and at the same time developed a program that will drive improvement and best practices into the future.