Risk is on everyone's mind these days. Volatile markets and rapidly changing demographics exacerbate already large funding gaps for some defined benefit plans, motivating pension fiduciaries to look for potential higher returns in the form of complex securities, derivatives and portable alpha strategies. As famed economist Milton Friedman said, there is no free lunch. Greater risk accompanies higher returns. In assessing financial uncertainty, pension decision-makers will likely want to make sure that the due diligence of external managers - especially those who employ leverage inducing strategies - includes a rigorous assessment of traders' risk management policies and procedures. On the accounting front, newly proposed asset disclosure rules, if approved, are slated to force change by requiring pension plans to categorize investment risks. Valuation rules such as FAS 157 are likewise causing change by forcing recognition as to how economic interests are marked to market or marked to model. Headlines about billion dollar losses in the financial sector are a reminder that effective risk management is a fundamental determinant of the economic viability of any organization. For plan sponsors, poor process may result in a host of problems such as those relating to liquidity, funding status and/or regulatory compliance. Low interest rates and recessionary pressures pose additional challenges, often leaving employers little room to maneuver. Participants, shareholders and taxpayers are potentially exposed to significant losses if the identification, measurement and management of pension risk fall short of best practices. Recognizing that meaningful change, as needed, cannot occur without knowledge of the status quo, the objectives of this research are threefold - (a) understand why and how plan sponsors employ derivative instruments, if at all (b) identify what plan sponsors are doing to address investment risk in the context of fiduciary responsibilities and (c) assess if and how plan sponsors vet the way in which their external money managers handle investment risk, including the valuation of instruments which do not trade in a ready market. A total of 162 retirement plan decision-makers in the United States and Canada represent survey-takers.