Susan G. Staff

Ms. Staff is copresenting Workshop W13, “Who Wants To Save a Million Bucks?” on Wednesday afternoon. She currently serves as director of Risk Management for Zachry Holdings, Inc. Through its various divisions, Zachry Holdings, Inc., is one of the largest contractors worldwide, providing engineering, construction, and construction management services for industrial projects such as power plant development and construction, and plant maintenance and capital improvements for the utilities, pulp & paper, and petrochemical industries. Zachry is a privately owned construction and industrial maintenance service company located in San Antonio, Texas. The projects of ZCC and its subsidiaries are located from coast to coast, with a concentration in the southern United States. The company also performs international projects according to its strategic goals.

Over the past 80 years, the Zachry family of companies has completed more than 5,500 projects that have included power generation plants, chemical refineries, retrofit air quality control systems, highways, bridges, dams, and more. Zachry also constructs U.S. embassies and other specialty projects throughout the world. Zachry works on both public- and private-sector projects across all major construction business sectors.
She is responsible for all aspects of corporate risk management and insurance for Zachry Holdings, Inc., and its related companies. Her duties include developing and implementing internal project risk management processes; managing corporate property, casualty, and specialty insurance programs; facilitating a comprehensive and collaborate enterprise approach to risk management; promoting personal and career growth and development of the Risk Management Department staff; procuring and negotiating project insurance policies with insurance industry professionals; and developing and evaluating subcontract documents and qualification criteria. Ms. Staff’s other activities within Zachry have included the leadership of the first Zachry Home Office Safety Team, participating in Zachry’s Company’s Subcontracting Task Team, Contract Language Review Teams, the integration of Risk Management processes into the Zachry Project Execution Planning Process, and active membership on the Zachry Engineering Corporation Advisory Board.

Prior to joining Zachry, Ms. Staff served as risk manager—Projects for the Power Generation segment of Asea Brown Boveri, Inc., in Windsor, Connecticut, and as manager, Corporate Insurance, for Rust International, Inc., in Birmingham, Alabama.

She is currently a member of the Risk and Insurance Management Society and the Association of General Contractor’s Risk Management Committee. Ms. Staff has made presentations in the areas of contractual risk transfer, additional insured, subcontract risk management, joint ventures, and professional liability at regional and national RIMS conferences, the Texas Safety Association Annual Conference, and International Risk Management Institute’s annual Construction Risk Conference.

Ms. Staff earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Georgia, where she majored in risk management and insurance. She has also received the Environmental Risk Management designation from The Institute of Environmental Risk Management at Texas State University and the Construction Risk and Insurance Specialist (CRIS) designation.