Catching Up with Risk Management’ s Armando Estrada
As CDU Director of Risk Management, Armando Estrada is one of the most recognizable faces around campus. Familiar but low-key, he moves around the University huddling with leaders and planning safety measures to ensure that an important activity and the flow of daily work goes off without a hitch. Though everpresent, his team is most often invisible in the background. So much so that most of us are unaware of risks at stake that could cost multiples of dollars should a calamity break out.
Originally from Los Angeles, Estrada attended Wilson High School in El Sereno, close by Cal State University, Los Angeles. He is a UC Irvine grad. His parents, in their late 90s, are both from Mexico. Dad is still working. He still drives and serves as an impressive role model to his son.
Estrada has been employed in the risk management and occupational safety areas for 40 plus years. November 1st will be his 12-year anniversary as a Mighty Lion.“ I was in the industry insurance industry for many, many years. Mostly, I worked for insurance companies. Then I worked for brokerage houses. And then I went to private industry. And I actually came to CDU to do a training when I worked for Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett’ s company. We were insuring CDU at the time, and they needed someone to do some training and I came out. And that was about eight years before I came to work here. Eventually, they had an available position here in risk management, and somebody told me about it. I thought, now, what are the odds?, he said.
Estrada wears a lot of hats as he moves around campus, engaged in a multiplicity of duties. His responsibilities?“ I do everything including emergency response, continuity plans, all the campus risk, safety and security. We do the clear report here surveillance for the university, all the contract reviews, affiliation agreements, and then coverage requests for other entities that want our insurance, compliance from an occupational safety and health standpoint. From 2012 to 2021, I oversaw the facilities as well until we brought in Moises Sierra who now is in charge of facilities. But I wore
Armando Estrada
those three hats for campus safety, risk management, and facilities for about eight years.
“ Risk management is what I’ ve always done for insurance companies, and they would send us out and go help businesses to make sure that their corporation was not going to get hurt financially, people were not going to get hurt, and someone was not going to come after them. I had a lot of clients in all industries, everything from construction, to education, to agriculture, and manufacturing. It was the full scope of all entities, and that prepared me to handle one entity.”
Estrada indicated that the designation risk management is a broad umbrella as a business service.“ It’ s everything from human factors, people can get hurt, as well as financial loss. Basically, I have to transfer the risk, if you will. For example, if you had someone that’ s going to come here and add a window to a building. When they come onto campus, and they’ re uninsured, something could happen while they’ re doing that work. We are the ones that are going to take the risk and either have them make sure that they protect us or get additional coverage for them. That’ s one part. The other part is Occupational Safety and Health, to make sure that we don’ t have situations that can hurt people,” he noted. Most importantly, it is to safeguard against someone doing any kind of work and not get injured while they’ re here on campus.“ There are two sides. And the main one is making sure that we are covered financially, to make sure that we have enough insurance and make sure it’ s an occurrence that they’ re going to cover.”
What other kind of potential risks affect a campus like this?“ As you know, we are an open campus, we don’ t have any fences, gates or anything to keep people out, which
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