Chief Risk Officer
Risk managers are generally not seen as innovators, but at Huntington Bancshares they are playing a critical role in supporting the development of groundbreaking new products aimed at improving customers’ financial health.
Led by Chief Risk Officer Helga Houston, the risk team pushed for important safety features in a new automatic savings product, Money Scout, to ensure that customers were not at risk of overdrawing checking accounts when funds are automatically moved into savings.
Houston’s team also worked on the safety features and disclosures for a new small-dollar loan product that lets customers borrow up to $1,000 — interest-free — if they set up automatic monthly payments from their accounts.
Houston has been the chief risk officer at Columbus, Ohio-based Huntington for nearly a decade and, in that time, she’s established herself as one of Chairman and CEO Stephen Steinour’s most trusted advisers. Steinour said he particularly admires Houston for ensuring that Huntington is living up to its stated purpose of making people’s lives better, helping businesses thrive and strengthening the communities it serves.
“Our purpose guides every decision she makes, and she holds me, our executive leadership team, and all Huntington colleagues accountable for making this promise a reality,” Steinour said.
As chief risk officer, Houston also plays a crucial role in guiding strategic decision-making.
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Last year, as Huntington was contemplating buying TCF Financial in Detroit, Houston and her team worked overtime to complete due diligence on TCF’s credit portfolio, and within less than a month — in the midst of a pandemic, no less — she had assured Steinour that it was a deal worth pursuing. On Dec. 13, Huntington announced it was buying TCF for $6 billion and, thanks in large part to the work of the risk team, Huntington had secured all the necessary approvals in less than six months. The deal, which boosted Huntington’s assets by more than 40%, to $175 billion, closed in mid-June.
In her off hours, Houston is an active volunteer, serving as the treasurer for the board of trustees of Westmont College, her alma mater, and on the board of the New Albany Community Foundation in New Albany, Ohio.
She also participates annually in Pelotonia, a two-day bicycle event in Columbus that raises money for Ohio State University’s cancer research center. In the 10 years she has participated, her team has raised nearly $750,000.
