How I became a risk manager I started working as an Administrative Assistant for a risk pool right out of college. I was the first employee hired by the Executive Director, and as the pool grew, we were able to take certain functions in-house from our broker. At each stage, I was the person who learned the function, figured out how we could do it internally, and then either took on those duties or we hired someone to do them. Over time, I learned about claims handling, underwriting, rate setting, safety and loss control, pool financial management, and accounting. By the time I left the pool, I