Meet 2025 Risk All Star Heather Harrison of WESCO Distribution Inc.

When WESCO Distribution doubled in size through a major acquisition, the Fortune 200 company found itself managing massive complexity without the risk infrastructure to match, prompting a comprehensive transformation led by senior risk manager Heather Harrison. Her ground-up approach to building enterprise risk management delivered measurable results across the global organization’s 800+ locations and 20,000+ employees. 

Heather Harrison, senior risk manager, WESCO Distribution Inc

Harrison, who joined WESCO in July 2021, found an urgent and daunting challenge: The company’s 2020 acquisition of Anixter International created a distribution and supply chain powerhouse operating across more than 50 countries with 200+ legal entities, but the supporting risk infrastructure had not evolved to match this expanded reality. 

At the time of the merger, WESCO lacked a dedicated risk management department. Risk and insurance responsibilities fell under the broader financial leadership of the SVP treasurer, a structure that had provided continuity during the transition but proved inadequate for the company’s new scale. The elimination of Anixter’s risk manager role further compounded the challenge. 

Harrison’s approach to transformation centered on building systems and partnerships that could scale with WESCO’s global operations. 

Her first priority was establishing a reliable data foundation, recognizing that quality information drives every effective risk-related decision. 

Working closely with WESCO’s longtime insurance advisor, HUB International, Harrison led the implementation of a risk management information system powered by Origami. 

This centralized platform replaced manual processes and created a single source of truth for insurance policies, claims history and exposure data. 

The implementation required careful integration with internal platforms, comprehensive data migration and cross-functional training to embed new tools into daily operations. 

Beyond technology, Harrison focused on building organizational capacity and cross-functional relationships. She established a formal risk management department, expanding from a team of one to three professionals, including a 2024 hire with over 20 years of liability claims experience. 

Her collaborative approach extended across departments, partnering with legal teams to align contract language, working with transportation groups to identify driver-related risk trends, and coordinating with health and safety teams to strengthen internal procedures. 

Harrison’s systematic approach included overhauling supplier insurance review processes to ensure alignment with WESCO’s standards and standardizing business continuity planning for consistent guidance during non-IT emergencies. She also took on responsibility for risk review processes across all merger and acquisition activity, overseeing due diligence for five acquisitions and one divestiture in just over two years. 

The breadth of her cross-functional engagement reflected a strategic understanding that effective risk management requires embedding risk awareness throughout organizational operations rather than treating it as an isolated function. 

The transformation Harrison orchestrated has delivered quantifiable benefits across multiple dimensions of WESCO’s operations. Enhanced visibility into risk across the company’s global footprint now informs strategic decisions ranging from supplier negotiations to merger and acquisition due diligence and business continuity planning. &

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