Michelle Powell joined Florida Poly in March of 2015, serving a variety of roles within the Office of Admissions. With over eight years of higher education experience, Powell joined Administration and Finance as the university risk manager in October of 2023. Prior to transitioning to risk management, she served as the director of admissions, overseeing first-year admission, student and professional staff management, event planning and management, and enrollment marketing and communication efforts, in addition to other responsibilities.
At Florida Poly, Powell started as an admissions counselor, was promoted to associate director, senior associate director, and then to director of admissions. During her tenure at Florida Poly, Powell has served almost every county in the state of Florida and continues to enjoy her work helping students pursue a degree in science, technology, engineering, and her personal favorite, mathematics.
Powell, originally from a small town in Southern Illinois, is an avid fan of spending time outside and exploring all that Florida has to offer. She also loves spending her time talking with students about mathematics.
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This session will demonstrate that practical risk management is for everyone, regardless of a formal program. Attendees will learn actionable and simple strategies that are easy to implement, enabling them to start immediately by focusing on their top risks to build greater operational resilience and ensure the sustained success of their auxiliary enterprises.
Michelle Powell serves as the pioneering Risk Manager at Florida Polytechnic University, the state’s sole 100% STEM-dedicated institution. Having been with the university for nearly 11 years, Michelle transitioned from a leadership role in Admissions in October 2023 to establish and evolve the risk management function from the ground up. In this solo capacity, Michelle builds robust frameworks for our dynamic, young university, overseeing our insurance portfolio, consulting on third-party and event risks, and developing critical campus-wide training programs. Michelle has obtained the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations (COSO) Enterprise Risk Management certificate and the Associate in Risk Management (ARM) and Construction Risk and Insurance Specialist (CRIS) designations. Her distinct background in mathematics and engineering, combined with extensive higher education leadership, brings an analytical and strategic approach enhancing the institution’s resilience.
