UNDRR and CCRO Network advance business resilience agenda in Harvard Business Review (HBR)

The UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), in collaboration with the Chief Resilience Officer (CCRO) network, has published a thought leadership article in Harvard Business Review on the growing need for dedicated corporate leadership on resilience.

Titled “The Case for Hiring a Chief Resilience Officer”, the article argues that in an era of compounding disruptions—ranging from cyberattacks to extreme weather and geopolitical shocks—companies require a single executive function to coordinate continuity, recovery, and adaptation. The Chief Resilience Officer (CRO) role is emerging as a strategic necessity, not only to reduce losses but to maintain competitiveness in volatile environments.

The article presents real-world insights from companies including Syngenta Group, Nestlé, Zurich Insurance, and Novo Nordisk. It emphasises that traditional executive roles such as Chief Risk, Operations, or Sustainability Officers, while vital, are often too narrowly focused to manage today’s complex risk landscape in an integrated way.

“Pharmaceutical manufacturing is highly vulnerable to disruption,” said Jim Codling, Associate Director, Global Resilience, at Novo Nordisk. “Creating a centralized resilience function helped us ensure that enterprise-level priorities shape how we plan, prepare, and respond across sites and geographies.”

The article reflects the growing maturity of the CCRO network and its contribution to shaping global resilience discourse through practical, business-driven insights. It also demonstrates how UNDRR is working to place key messages at influential nodes in the global business ecosystem.

“UNDRR’s Intergovernmental and Partnerships Branch is committed to working with leaders across sectors to translate disaster risk reduction into tangible business practices,” said Erick Gonzales Rocha, Economic Affairs Officer at UNDRR. “This publication, and the CCRO network more broadly, show how partnerships can deliver real results.”

Next steps include developing a formal Job Description for Chief Resilience Officers, in collaboration with CCRO network members and professional recruitment firms. This will help companies define the scope, competencies, and reporting structures needed to embed resilience at the executive level.