Melanie Lucht has been appointed vice chancellor for enterprise risk management at Washington University in St. Louis, effective Nov. 9, announced Nichol Luoma, executive vice chancellor for enterprise operations and chief operating officer.
In this inaugural role, Lucht will report directly to Luoma. Lucht will oversee the offices of Environmental Health & Safety, Institutional Equity and Global Safety.
“The modern higher education landscape has become a complex ecosystem operating under unprecedented scrutiny,” Luoma said “We are elevating and integrating how WashU manages risk as an enterprise so we can boldly pursue our mission with confidence. I am thrilled to welcome Melanie, who rebuilt this function at Carnegie Mellon, as our inaugural vice chancellor for enterprise risk management.”
Lucht most recently served as senior vice president of customer engagement at Fusion Risk Management. Before that, she spent six years as associate vice president and chief risk officer at Carnegie Mellon University, where she enhanced its enterprise risk program, launched the university’s first compliance function and ran the COVID-19 response out of its Emergency Operations Center. She also has risk management experience at PNC Financial Services and Philips Respironics.
“I am honored to join WashU at such an important moment for the institution and higher education,” Lucht said. “I look forward to working with faculty, staff and leaders throughout the university to strengthen our resilience and ensure we are prepared for whatever comes next.”
Lucht earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Mercyhurst University in Erie, Penn. She has completed Carnegie Mellon’s Chief Risk Officer Executive Education program as well as Harvard University’s Crisis Leadership in Higher Education program. Lucht is also a master business continuity professional, as certified by the Disaster Recovery Institute International, and holds several other certifications and memberships, including as a member of the Business Continuity Institute. She has been recognized with the Business Continuity Institute’s Continuity and Resilience Professional of the Year award.
She is a frequent speaker and published author on enterprise risk management and organizational resiliency in higher education.
