Getting Paid to Deliver Unwelcome Services

Bank executives sometimes viewed Smith professor Cliff Rossi as a killjoy during the buildup to the 2008 global economic meltdown. As chief risk officer at several of the largest U.S. financial institutions, Rossi faced the task of raising unwelcome concerns when banks started setting aside traditional safeguards and packaging subprime loans.

“I had a front row seat at the party and the funeral,” says Rossi, who spent time with Citigroup, Washington Mutual, Countrywide Bank, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

He says frequent job changes were the norm for people in his position. “The years leading up to the crisis were tough ones for chief risk officers,” he says.

Rossi, a professor of the practice and executive-in-residence, shares lessons learned in his new book, “A Risk Professional’s Survival Guide” (Wiley, Oct. 20, 2014).

“The disasters of the recent financial crisis taught us that managing risk is an art and a science, and it is critical for practitioners to understand how individual risks are integrated at the enterprise level,” Rossi says. “Instead of focusing only on quantitative risk analysis or institutional risk management, this book takes a comprehensive approach.”