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The risk business has never been riskier.

Just ask Cherie Arceneaux Pinac, vice president and general counsel for Louisiana Workers Compensation Corporation. Pinac, whose office is known as the “fire department” because—even with the best planning—fires do break out, and they have to be extinguished. It’s not a dull job, to say the least.

“I’m one of those people who really likes to make lists,” she says. “It’s just the list changes every few minutes.”

Pinac says security is a huge issue for LWCC in this time of major economic turmoil, with A++ insurance carriers of recent history suddenly not A++ material anymore. In this environment, LWCC has to be extra careful the reinsurers it does business with are on firm footing. The breathtaking collapse of AIG in September is a sobering warning.

The workers’ compensation business, meanwhile, is known as a “long tail line,” meaning the duration of claims, with unlimited medical benefits, can last for years—as long as treatment is required.

“We have to make sure the people you’re doing business with are in it for the long haul,” Pinac says. “We have to make sure institutions we’re doing business with are sound.”

Splitting her time between homes in Crowley and Baton Rouge, Pinac admits balancing work and family isn’t always easy, but says without her family’s support she wouldn’t be able to do what she does. Her mother, who lives in Morgan City, gets big kudos for help with Pinac’s 4-year-old daughter.

Fortunately, Pinac, who has risen quickly through LWCC’s corporate ranks, likes her work, which involves keeping several balls in the air at once. It’s really less about legal matters and more about management and business—exactly the kind of thing to which Pinac is drawn.

What does it take?

“Having the ability to work with a group and managing issues and always being cognizant of managing the risk associated with that,” Pinac says. “That’s kind of the mentality that you have to bring to the practice in a corporate setting like that.”

Age: 39

What is Baton Rouge’s biggest strength in the quest to attract young professionals?

“The size of city and that it’s a very family-oriented city. That’s a huge thing to me. I came from a very small town. Baton Rouge has all the [amenities] I would want, yet you still get that small-town feel. I think that’s a huge aspect to the city.”

Click here for the complete list of 2008's Forty Under 40 winners.