#RISK Europe brings together professionals from across governance, risk, compliance, privacy, and security with one shared goal: To make risk management a core business skill. Ahead of the event, COMET CEO Mark Rushton sat down with Nick James, CEO of GRC World Forums and host of the #RISK event series, for an in-depth conversation about the journey that shaped COMET and its approach to risk.
In this interview, you will hear Mark’s personal perspective on why risk management matters, not just for organisations but for the people inside them.
What to expect from the interview
Mark shares:
• His personal connection to risk, including how the Piper Alpha disaster shaped his family’s commitment to improving safety
• The early days of training and development, from his time in project management to joining his father’s business which focused on safety and leadership in oil and gas
• The turning point, when working with investigators and intelligence specialists shifted the focus from traditional training to robust incident investigation and root cause analysis
• The technology journey, why digitising COMET’s methodology for incident investigation & RCA was essential and how it led to the merger that created today’s COMET
• COMET’s evolution, from its oil and gas roots to becoming a global solution helping industries such as ports and marine, manufacturing, rail and other high risk industries tackle risk intelligently.
Why you should listen
In this conversation, Mark explains why risk should never sit in the background, how curiosity and investigation can prevent repeat incidents, and why building a culture of learning delivers better results than focusing on blame.
He shares how lessons from major industry events shaped his approach to risk and inspired COMET’s mission to help organisations learn, adapt, and improve before harm occurs.
Whether you are a risk professional, business leader, or someone passionate about creating safer and more resilient teams, you will come away with practical insights into how risk can become a driver of growth, safety, and trust.
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