OpenPages Kicks Off OPUS 2008 with Strong Focus on Risk Management in Light of Recent Economic Events

October 20, 2008

Waltham, Mass., – October 20, 2008 - OpenPages^®, the leading provider of the leading provider of enterprise GRC management solutions that optimize business performance, today kicked off its fifth annual OpenPages User Symposium (OPUS), to be held until October 22, 2008 at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel, Boston, MA. While previous OPUS events have focused on a wide-range of GRC initiatives, this year’s event includes a significant focus on risk management insight and best practices, which will be especially valuable to attendees given the current economic climate and heightened need for better risk management.

Leading off OPUS 2008 is OpenPages president and CEO Michael J. Duffy, who will share with attendees his vision for the future.  As part of his keynote address, Duffy will discuss the current economic crisis and how an even greater urgency for improved risk management practices has evolved as a result of the financial meltdown. Duffy will discuss how the explosion of risk premiums combined with steep borrowing costs will create a challenge for companies moving forward. The session will also focus on how the new economic climate will reward those organizations that embrace strategic risk management resulting in a lower cost of capital and reduced losses from realized risks. 

OPUS 2008 will continue its theme of promoting a risk-aware culture among its attendees with keynote presentations from the following top risk experts: 

• David Holcombe, director of risk management for International Speedway Corporation (ISC) and NASCAR, Inc., will address attendees on “Safety and Risk Management in Motorsports,” and will walk attendees through the evolution of race cars and safety management from the 1950’s to the present. Holcombe will also look at the challenges facing large Motorsport facilities, and in particular, managing risk at these large public gatherings.
• Mark Beasley, Deloitte ERM professor and ERM Initiative director, at NC State University will be presenting on “Aligning ERM and Strategy.” As part of his presentation, Beasley will discuss how organizations are responding to evolving risk demands by leveraging traditional risk management processes into an enterprise risk management (ERM) view of their key risks. Beasley will also explore how ERM should be linked to strategy planning to ensure that ERM is positioned to add value.

OPUS attendees will also hear first-hand eight customer case study presentations. These sessions focus on a range of topics related to GRC, and are meant to highlight the successful implementations that some of the leading Fortune 1000 companies have found using a variety of OpenPages software solutions. Attendees will hear detailed presentations from the following customers:

• Carnival Corporation –“The Power Of Risk - Integrating Risk for Better Business Performance”
• Duke Energy – “Maintaining Compliance with OpenPages GCM”
• Aviva – “Operational Occurrence – Control Beyond SOX”
• TD Ameritrade – “Moving Beyond Compliance to Integrated Enterprise Risk Management”
• First Rand Banking – “Risk Management”
• Barclays – “Implementing a Comprehensive Privacy Program”
• ICAP – ‘Implementing an Operational Risk Framework with OpenPages ORM”
• AIG – “Leveraging the Capabilities of OpenPages to Implement an Integrated Risk Assessment Program”

In addition to the keynote and customer case study sessions, OPUS 2008 will feature over forty sessions, delivered in part by industry experts from AMR Research, Forrester and Gartner, as well as OpenPages executives and strategic partners Deloitte and CCH TeamMate. Furthermore, this year’s event will provide attendees with more hands-on product sessions, as well as more structured peer-networking discussion groups that will help in mapping out the best strategy for advancing GRC initiatives, specifically as it relates to risk management.

It’s no secret that the current risk oversight regulatory regime is completely inadequate for today’s economy," said Michael J. Duffy, president and CEO, OpenPages. "Moving forward, companies will be expected to manage enterprise risks and provide transparency to their approach. Just as OpenPages was on the front lines helping companies in the aftermath of Sarbanes-Oxley, we will continue to lead the charge in helping to implement a more systematic and programmatic approach to risk management that will ultimately boost investor and lender confidence. OPUS provides a unique forum to the world’s most innovative firms that are committed to using technology to improve their risk management strategies."

Additional Links:

OPUS Overview

OPUS Agenda

About OPUS

OPUS is a three-day forum designed to foster thought-leadership in the areas of governance, risk and compliance and offer real-world experiences for increasing efficiency and business improvement. The event brings together a significant cross-section of OpenPages’ customers, as well as industry experts and analysts, leading risk and assurance firms, and technology providers, to discuss business governance efforts, share perspectives and obtain valuable advice from each other.

About OpenPages

OpenPages is the leading provider of enterprise GRC management solutions that optimize business performance. OpenPages empowers the world’s largest companies by unifying governance, risk and compliance (GRC) activities across the enterprise and by incorporating risk management into their day-to-day business processes. Founded in 1996, the company is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, with international offices in Japan and the United Kingdom, and regional offices throughout North America.

For more information on OpenPages' suite of risk and compliance solutions, please click here or call us at 781.693.5999.