Third Party Therapy - Clarence Chio | The Pace of TPRM: Faster Horses or a New Way to Travel?

Mar 23, 2026

Clarence Chio, founder of Coverbase and a Stanford-trained engineer who built AI tools for cybersecurity and AML, discusses rethinking third-party risk. He argues against speeding up old checklists and explores AI-driven trust, continuous monitoring, contract visibility, and integrating risk across procurement, intake, and operations. Short, practical ideas on reducing friction while improving insight.

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INSIGHT

TPRM Is Becoming Core To Business Risk

TPRM is becoming central to security, procurement, regulation and compliance as third-party breaches rise.
The increasing specialization and outsourcing of business functions drives a surge in third-party relationships and risk.

INSIGHT

Procurement Is Evolving Into Risk Creation

Procurement is shifting from cost-savings to value-creation and risk mitigation as CPOs face board-level scrutiny.
Modern procurement leaders are becoming third-party-risk centric and must partner tightly with TPRM.

ADVICE

Start TPRM At Intake Not After Procurement

Involve TPRM from intake through contracting and renewal to streamline risk-aware sourcing and obligations.
Design sourcing and RFP processes around risk, integrate TPRM earlier, and track vendor obligations continuously.

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Is the pace of change in Third-Party Risk Management (TPRM) keeping up with the complexities of the modern marketplace? In this episode of Third Party Therapy, Mike Day sits down with Clarence Chio, founder of Coverbase.

Clarence, a Stanford-trained engineer and cybersecurity veteran, shares his unique perspective on the "assessor fatigue" felt by both sides of the table. They dive deep into how AI can move beyond just making existing processes "faster horses" and instead fundamentally change how trust is established between organizations.

🕒 Timestamps

00:00 – Introduction: Is TPRM falling behind the market?

03:45 – Clarence’s Journey: From Stanford to Anti-Money Laundering (AML)

12:10 – The "Assessor’s Dilemma": Why busy work doesn't always equal risk reduction

21:30 – The Pace of Change: Why traditional assessments are static in a dynamic world

30:50 – AI & Coverbase: Moving from manual checklists to automated trust

38:15 – The "Faster Horse" Problem: Re-imagining the future of TPRM

47:40 – Elevating the Job: How automation allows risk managers to focus on strategy

55:30 – Closing thoughts: Mapping out the next 5 years of TPRM

💡 Key Takeaways

The Problem with Static Assessments: Clarence explains why an annual review is often obsolete the moment it's finished and how the pace of software updates requires a new approach to monitoring.
Assessor Fatigue: Insight into why critical vendors feel "put through the wringer" and how this friction actually hinders true risk transparency.
AI as an Efficiency Engine: How Coverbase uses AI to bridge the gap, allowing for a more holistic and real-time understanding of vendor security postures.
Rethinking the Function: Why the industry needs to stop asking for "faster horses" (doing the same manual tasks quicker) and start looking for the "automobile" (fundamentally changing the workflow).

🔗 Connect & Resources

Official Website: thirdpartytherapy.com
Guest Info: Learn more about Clarence Chio and Coverbase at Clarence Chio | LinkedIn

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Keywords: #TPRM #ThirdPartyRisk #ClarenceChio #Coverbase #Cybersecurity #AI #RiskAutomation #VendorManagement #SupplyChainSecurity #ThirdPartyTherapy #Innovation