Michael Foster is the deputy head of the emerging risks group within the Marsh risk advisory practice. The emerging risks group helps clients understand their changing risk profiles over a muti-year time horizon using a scenario-based approach to provide bespoke analytics to support enterprise risk management. Foster, who joined Marsh in 2024, is based in the Denver, Colorado, office.

Foster spent the majority of his 34-year military career as an infantry officer in the special operations field and served at the general officer level before retiring in 2019. He has extensive combat experience, having spent nearly seven years deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. He commanded multiple elite units, including the 1st Ranger Battalion and the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Italy. During his command of the 1st Ranger Battalion, the unit was awarded the Presidential Unit Citation and the Valorous Unit Award for actions in combat. Foster’s awards and decorations in the Army include being a seven-time recipient of the Bronze Star and a two-time recipient of the Purple Heart.

Foster is an alumnus of the US Military Academy at West Point and Harvard University, where he served as a National Security Fellow. Immediately after his retirement from the Army, he worked for NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School), where he served as the director for six of the school’s 15 global campuses. A distinguished guest speaker, Foster has lectured extensively, including at the CIA, US Department of State, National Security Agency, New York City Police Department, NATO, New Jersey State Police, multiple prominent universities, and many others.