Micro-Seminar: Learning the Risk Management Basics Through Elon Musk PART ONE

Micro-Seminars have two parts. Attendance to both parts is required. Registering for the PART ONE session will automatically enroll you in the PART TWO session on Friday.

Part 1: Thursday, August 22, 2024 from 3:00 – 4:30 pm (PST)
Part 2: Friday, August 23, 2024 from 10:00 – 11:30 am (PST)

Elon Musk is the greatest risk-taker of our generations, yours, mine, and that of our parents. But what exactly does the leader of Tesla, SpaceX, X, and Neuralink have to teach us about the management of risks? In short, nearly everything. This micro-seminar will explore the basics of risk management through the persona and activities of Elon Musk.

During Part 1 of the micro-seminar, students will learn to identify various types of risk from supply chain and sustainability risks to human capital and reputation risks and assess the impact and likelihood of those risks.

Then, during Part 2 of the micro-seminar, we will evaluate different methods to control and finance risks such as raising funds, settling lawsuits, moving headquarters, changing states of incorporation, and overseeing an executive’s social media usage and the effectiveness of these methods. Finally, we will consider the importance of communicating risks to stakeholders—employees, customers, suppliers, management, board members, creditors, shareholders, and regulators.

Students from across campus are welcome in this micro-seminar. Risk management is gaining increasing importance in all industries from engineering, banking, healthcare, and hi tech to communications, entertainment, sports, and the arts. At the end of Part 2 of the micro-seminar, the instructor provides "Tips for Your Time at USC" gathered over the past six years from USC students, USC alumni, and risk management industry professionals.

Lead By: Professor Kristen Jaconi

Kristen Jaconi currently serves as the Executive Director of the Peter Arkley Institute for Risk Management at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and an Associate Professor of the Practice in Accounting. Before joining USC, Kristen served as a Managing Director at Promontory Financial Group advising financial services clients on risk management and corporate governance matters, strategic planning, and regulatory compliance. Prior to her work at Promontory, Kristen served as Senior Policy Adviser to the Undersecretary for Domestic Finance at the Department of the Treasury, helping develop risk management, executive compensation, and corporate governance guidelines for participants in the Troubled Asset Relief Program as well as the Department’s blueprint for a modernized financial services regulatory structure. She was senior counsel to Rep. Michael G. Oxley, Chairman of the Committee on Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives. For Oxley, she focused on securities policy matters, including the implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and regulation of mutual funds, hedge funds, broker-dealers, and rating agencies. Kristen also worked as an Associate at O’Melveny & Myers, where she advised clients on corporate transactions and corporate governance matters.

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