Hear from Abraham Desantiago, Chair of the ISRM Venezuela Chapter
James Thorpe
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The Institute of Strategic Risk Management (ISRM) was launched back in January 2019 by consultant and trainer, Dr. David Rubens.
I remember in those days that COVID-19 hadn’t spread in a global manner yet. We as humans could never have imagined what would happen next. However, the ISRM, lead by Dr. Rubens, started to disseminate knowledge and resources about risk management and crisis continuity plans.
Today, this British organisation has a Chapter in more than 20 countries, everywhere from South Africa to Israel – and it has certainly achieved its goals in a fast manner.
In June 2022, I was fortunate enough to be appointed by Dr. Rubens as the ISRM Venezuela’s Chapter Chair, the very first Chapter from the ISRM in Latin America. This role is a huge challenge and responsibility, particularly since the ISRM is a global centre where practitioners, academics and policy makers can come together to share information, help progress and promote the underlying understanding and capabilities associated with strategic risk and crisis management and develop their own personal and professional networks.
The ISRM is committed to providing a natural home where experiences can be compared, personal and professional development can be supported and friendships can be made.
Dr. David Rubens, Executive Director, The Institute of Strategic Risk Management
You probably may ask yourself: “How did this Young Professional get this role? How has this organisation arrived in Latin America after the pandemic?” As you know, one of the keywords in security these days is “networking” and I do not want to hesitate mentioning Matthew Porcelli CPP who spotted my volunteer work from ASIS International where I started as Young Professional Liaison for the Venezuela Chapter in January 2019 (currently, I play the roles of ASIS CONNECTS Ambassador and Global Outreach Sub-Committee Chair (YP Community)).
Matthew himself contacted Dr. Rubens and gave the highest recommendation about my work.
Since day one as ISRM Venezuela Chapter Chair I have received mentoring and guidance from Matthew in an unconditional manner. He has been supporting my actions and helping to develop and share the ISRM values and mission in Latin America. This can be hard work, particularly because in Venezuela and Latin America our mother language is Spanish and not all the security professionals in the local guild have English language skills.
Matthew and David are confident that the ISRM Venezuela Chapter will establish itself as a significant platform and forum for cross-sector interaction involving all aspects of strategic risk and crisis management in Venezuela and Latin America. For me as Chair of the ISRM Venezuela Chapter, I am looking forward to being part of the local community, helping to develop and support both the existing and up-and-coming practitioners.
“The ISRM is aware of the vast numbers of people across the world who are being given responsibility for increasingly complex risk, resilience, business continuity, emergency response and crisis management operations and for which they often feel they have not been given the appropriate level of preparation or support,” commented Dr. Rubens.
“For all of these people too, the ISRM is committed to providing a natural home where experiences can be compared, personal and professional development can be supported and friendships can be made.
“The ISRM offers you an opportunity to take part in world class training, gain formal qualifications, enjoy social events, develop professional networks and, if you wish to do so, to take an active part in developing and supporting the ISRM wherever in the world you are”.
By Abraham Desantiago, Chair of the ISRM Venezuela Chapter
