Chris Duncan

Mr. Duncan contributes to the enterprise risk management column of IRMI.com.

Mr. Duncan is a partner with Mercer Health and Benefits. He has had a varied career in both small entrepreneurial and large public companies, with leadership positions in senior management, strategic planning, finance, operations, benefits, risk management, and insurance, and has served as a board member in profit and nonprofit entities.

His current role is as the Atlanta, Georgia, business leader for its Health and Benefits brokerage and consulting business in Georgia and Alabama, as well as the US leader for Health and Benefits Acquisitions responsible for pipeline development, evaluation of potential firms, and partnering with functional areas for valuation, deal structure, negotiations, and postacquisition implementation. He is also a member of Mercer Health and Benefits' Innovation Council, which is responsible for new product development, and serves on MMC's Enterprise Risk Management Advisory Committee.

Prior to these current leadership roles, Mr. Duncan was the copractice leader for Mercer's benefits brokerage business in the United States and a member of the US National Management Team, providing strategic direction for significant lines of business in addition to executive leadership sponsorship and oversight for Health and Benefits' direction in benefits administration and outsourcing, strategic partnerships, and voluntary benefits.

His background includes being the chief operating officer/chief financial officer of a regional property and casualty (P&C) and benefits brokerage, benefits, and administration firm; chief risk officer at Delta Air Lines (risk management, insurance, passenger claims, internal audit, and information security/privacy); and multiple senior risk management/insurance/claims, finance, and strategic planning leadership positions within PepsiCo companies of Frito-Lay and KFC. He started his career as a P&C and acquisitions analyst at Ford Motor Company in Detroit, Michigan, and learned from consultant positions with Coopers and Lybrand and Towers Perrin early in his career.

Active in the community, he is a board member of "Open Hand" (an Atlanta-based meal delivery nonprofit delivering more than 1.5 million meals annually in the Atlanta metro area to the disadvantaged, sick, and recovering needy of the area) and a board member of the American Geographical Society, the nation's oldest professional geography organization, which is based in New York. Active in his local church, he also does volunteer work with Missio Link International in Romania on solutions for children at risk.

Mr. Duncan has a bachelor of arts in business administration (marketing) and a master of business administration in finance and risk management, both from the University of Georgia, and was named Alumnus of the Year (2003) for the Terry College of Business Risk Management and Insurance Program, the University of Georgia. He also holds the Chartered Property Casualty Underwriter designation.