Meet a man of rigor who can deliver; Michael Turcotte is not only director of risk management for one of Canada's largest media companies, he's also credited with being the brains behind RIMS Canada's Web strategy

Risk & Insurance, August, 2005 by David Kosub

When colleagues and peers think of Michael Turcotte, the 39-year-old risk manager in charge of managing risk for the media division of Quebecor Inc., they think of a bright and dedicated man whom they consider an inspiration to them--and to the risk management industry.

"He always wants to learn; you can see that in everything he does," says Mike Maida, corporate risk manager for Agricore United of Winnipeg, Manitoba. Craig Rowe, former risk manager for the City of St. John's, Newfoundland, describes him as quiet, yet "instrumental" in bringing the practice of risk management into the 21st century, through his technical smarts and plain hard work.

Turcotte is not only director of risk management for Quebecor Media, one of the largest electronic communications companies in Canada, but also widely acknowledged as the brains behind Website development at RIMS Canada and its chapters from one end of the country to the other. He's also an expert in the growing field of cyber risk and the largely uncharted waters of network security, customer confidentiality, identification theft and the liabilities that these pose for the business community.

"We see this stuff all the time," says Turcotte. "The question is how big is it going to be out there? Is there really potential for catastrophic risk? Those are the questions that the industry wants answers to."

Back in 1986 the furthest things from Turcotte's mind were lingering questions about the risks posed by an emerging technology. A revolution was underway, and he, a lover of math and formal logic in high school, wanted to be part of it. "Back then computers were the big thing. No one had a computer at home. And that's what attracted me." Turcotte had his heart set on a career as a computer programmer, a decision made easier by a unique post-secondary education system that streams graduates down one of two career paths: a prequalifying program for university or advanced technical training.

Turcotte was excited. He stood at the cusp of a brand-new profession that came with enormous rewards. Top-flight computer programmers were making six-figure salaries and were the new gurus of the age. Enrolled in a program that virtually guaranteed him a good job at the end of three years, he, like others before him, figured he had it made.

Then, it hit him. After one year of full-time attendance in the program, Turcotte's excitement about a career with hand over mouse and eyes glued to the computer screen had waned.

"Very simply, I realized that I didn't want to spend the rest of my life sitting in front of a computer, so I decided to stop everything. That's when I decided to go to the University of Montreal and do a Bachelor of Commerce degree."

The change in direction came as something of a surprise. Three years later he was surprised again--this time to find himself far away from the large cosmopolitan city he had called home for so many years. Turcotte had taken a job with Manulife in the largely agricultural community of Waterloo, Ontario, working as an underwriter in health, dental, life, long- and short-term disability. "This wasn't enough for me either, so I decided I needed another change, but in the same field."

A new job, this time as senior underwriter at Canada Life, was one of the enticements that brought him back to the city of Montreal. The other was his marriage in June 1992 and the prospect of a family.

"I wanted to have kids, but I didn't want them to grow up in a small farming town," he says. A third draw was a chance to advance his career by upgrading his education beyond his Bachelor of Commerce degree.

"An MBA is broader. It touches marketing, production, accounting, computer technology and a lot of different fields. I felt that it would give me more tools to do something more on the management side."

That move to the management side occurred in 1996 when the MBA graduate became risk manager for Provigo Inc., the owner of more than 300 supermarkets and discount stores in Quebec.

Turcotte was buoyant. Applying underwriter guidelines had been a largely dry exercise. Risk management gave him the chance to get directly involved in loss prevention. Then, when his boss left after less than a year, Turcotte found himself managing the risk department on his own, a baptism by fire that he says was worth more than a dozen degrees.

"In the three years I spent at Provigo, I learned more than a lot of people do in 10 years," says Turcotte.

His learning began that year when the roof of a Provigo warehouse in Quebec City collapsed under two feet of snow during a major storm. Turcotte's job was to work with the engineer and adjuster to get that warehouse back up and running again. The biggest charge, says Turcotte, was that at the end of the day, the buck stopped with the risk manager--and he'd managed to get the warehouse back in business quickly again.

It was a fortuitous experience, because less than a year later the infamous Quebec lee storm descended on "la Belle Province."