Alex Wittenberg is the Executive Director of Marsh and McLennan (MMC) Insights and a San Francisco-based Partner with management consulting firm Oliver Wyman Group. His current focus is in understanding and addressing the long-term emerging risk issues that pose the greatest challenges to the global economy and society as a whole: climate resilience, transformative technologies, societal health, workforce for the future, cyber resilience and infrastructure innovation.
Alex is also an editor of BRINK, the MMC’s daily digital news service, and editor of the Oliver Wyman Risk Journal.
As the leader of MMC Insights, Alex manages research programs at the intersection of the firm’s core areas of focus – risk, strategy and people. This includes the firm’s strategic relationships with leading organizations including:
- – Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD): As a steering committee member for the OECD’s High Level Risk Forum, Alex supported the development of the OECD’s recommendation on the governance of critical risks. He also co-developed a study of the Country Risk Officer, examining how countries manage risk, and Future Global Shocks, a report examining sources of systemic and emerging risk.
- – World Economic Forum (WEF): Alex is responsible for MMC’s participation in the annual Global Risks Report examining the long term impacts of risk on the global economy.
- – National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD): Alex has served as commissioner and technical advisor on the Blue Ribbon Commission on risk governance; commissioner on the Blue Ribbon Commission examining the role of the lead director; and commissioner on the Blue Ribbon Commission on long-term strategy.
- – Association for Financial Professionals (AFP): Alex is a sponsor and editor of the annual AFP/MMC Risk Management survey. He has also co-authored a white paper on risk appetite and jointly developed a paper examining the strategic role of the treasurer with the AFP.
- – World Energy Council (WEC): Alex is the sponsor and editor of the annual WEC/Oliver Wyman Country Trilemma Index, measuring comparative energy sustainability between nations and sponsor of the WEC Resilient Energy Infrastructure project.
In 2005 Alex became Managing Partner of Oliver Wyman’s Corporate Risk practice in New York. Previously he served as Managing Director and Practice Leader for Risk Finance, Risk Modelling and Financial Products at Marsh Canada Limited in Toronto.
Alex is a member of the Advisory Board for the United Nations Global Assessment on Disaster Risk Reduction and is a commissioner on the current NACD Blue Ribbon commission on the Future of Board Leadership. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Bay Area Council. In 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 he has been recognized as a leading governance expert by the NACD as an NACD Directorship100 honoree. Alex is a graduate in Economics and Political Science from Western University in London, Ontario, Canada.