Port St. Maarten to strengthen internal processes in 2016 and beyond with Enterprise Risk Management Strategy

PORT ST. MAARTEN – Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mark Mingo recently signed an agreement with Ernst & Young Advisory Services, to perform an Enterprise Risk Assessment (ERA), which will prepare the harbor group of companies for 2016 and beyond.

ERA is the process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling the activities of an organization in order to minimize the effects of risk on an organization’s capital and earnings.

Enterprise risk management expands the process to include not just risks associated with accidental losses, but also financial, strategic, operational, and other risks.

“Port St. Maarten harbor group of companies is government owned, and the board of directors as well as management, have a responsibility to the shareholder to ensure that the harbor group operates according to its statutory regulations, but at the same time making sure the board and management decisions allows the companies to operate optimally and productively with the least amount of risks.

“External factors influence the operations of a company, and one must be on the ball when it comes to risks management.  Besides the shareholder, the board of directors and management have to also answer to bond holders and other financiers such as banking institutions who are strategic partners in the growth of any organization.

“It is normal for the shareholder and other entities wanting to scrutinize companies’ risk-management policies and procedures. The ERA comes out of our annual operational audits which we instituted a few years ago, and in particular from our operational audit actions from November 2014. One has to be answerable on the adequacy of risk-management processes in the organization.  We have to strike a balance between enhancing profits and managing risks.

“The ERA will allow us to chart our future in 2016 and beyond based on data, and information that identifies risks.  The assessment is a management tool to guide our strategic planning which is in line with good corporate and integrity governance,” CEO Mark Mingo pointed out.

The agreement with Ernst & Young Advisory Services outlines two main phases, identify and diagnose.  The first phase will look at defining roles and responsibilities; meetings with key stakeholders; development of a work plan; and collecting initial set of company data.

The Diagnose phase will identify and understand the harbor group of companies’ key business risks and develop an appropriate risk assessment criteria for use in assessing and prioritizing these key business risks.

CEO Mingo concluded that the benefactors after the assessment will be the shareholder and the 79 employees who represent 13 companies’ of the harbor group, who are responsible for approximately one third of the gross national product of the country.

“The Enterprise Risk Assessment report will summarize risks and mitigation strategies.  This is very essential in going forward in 2016 and beyond.  It will be a guide to our future strategic planning, implementation and investment strategies.

“As CEO, I do not run the harbor group of companies based on social media comments, but on facts from our international partners and customers.  Country St. Maarten is in a sea of competitors, many of them who are sharks, and we need to be prepared as we have always been in order to continue to remain the number 1 port in the region,” Port St. Maarten CEO Mark Mingo added.

PHOTO CUTLINE: L to R: Chief Operations Officer Richard van der Mark, a representative from Ernst & Young, Chief Financial Officer Ton van Kooten, CEO Mark Mingo, and a representative from Ernst & Young.

Source: 721 news Port St. Maarten to strengthen internal processes in 2016 and beyond with Enterprise Risk Management Strategy

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