To better understand the benefits of joining the Third Party Risk Association (TPRA), here is an interview with CEO and Co-Founder Julie Gaiaschi.

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Interviewer: So Julie, what exactly is the TPRA and how was it formed?

Julie: "The TPRA is a community of like-minded, third party risk professionals who collectively further the profession through knowledge sharing and networking.  My co-founder and I are practitioners who built our own third party risk programs within our respective organizations and were looking for a vendor-agnostic community that could help us elevate our programs.  We were both frustrated with searching for guidance and templates from vendors that only wanted to push their own agendas.  Some questions we asked ourselves were, 'Why are there so many variations of the same information security questionnaire that basically state the same thing?  Where can I go to obtain feedback on the various third party risk management tools that exist?  How do I get more involved in third party risk so that I can be at the heart of risk management trends?  How do I even start a third party risk management program?'  My partner and I decide to form a roundtable to answer some of these questions, which eventually turned into the not-for-profit organization that it is today." 

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Interviewer: What is the vision and some of the objectives of the TPRA?

Julie: "Our vision is simple... ​to be the global voice and standard for the third party risk profession!  But we cannot do that without our members.  As a community, we work to promote the value that third party risk professionals and practitioners add to their organizations; educate community members and other relevant audiences on best practices in third party risk; research and disseminate information on third party risk tools and techniques; and build third party risk guidance as a community."

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Interviewer: Who should join the TPRA and what are some of the member benefits?

Julie: "Whether you are a practitioner just developing your third party risk program, or you've established a more mature program, it has never been more important to benchmark off your peers.  This professional association is built on and requires the participation of practitioners from programs of all shapes and sizes.  

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Benefits include, but are not limited to:

• Monthly member meetings to discuss relevant third party risk and security topics.

• Quarterly special interest meetings for specific industries (currently Finance, Insurance, Healthcare, Retail, and Information Technology).

• Free attendance to two Virtual Conferences per year.

• Discounted admission to TPRA in-person conferences for Standard Members, free for Premium Members.

• Members Only site that includes forums, newsletters, and job opportunities.

• Access to TPRA Information Sharing site with relevant white papers and templates.

• Latest information on current third party risk topics and trends through Blog posts.

• Demos, surveys, and webinars from third party risk management vendors and service providers."

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Interviewer: How can practitioners leverage their membership to support their current certifications from other organizations?

Julie: "In addition to providing you with opportunities to network and interact with fellow practitioners, the TPRA also provides you with Continuing Professional Education (CPE) to ensure you can maintain existing security and risk-related certifications!  Attending our monthly meetings and two virtual conferences at a minimum will provide you with 25 CPEs every year!  That's an average of $8 per CPE if you purchased your membership at our regular rate of $199 for the year."

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Interview: What's one final thought you have for potential members?

Julie: "You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Come join us and add to our fast growing community of third party risk leaders!"