Jodi Richard can handle an emergency.
She proved this during the March 2023 banking crisis, when three regional institutions — Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and Silvergate Bank — failed in five days causing global bank stock prices to plummet.
Immense pressure fell on leaders like Richard, vice chair and chief risk officer at the Minneapolis, Minnesota-based U.S. Bank, the fifth-largest bank in the country.
While the failures unfolded, banking officials sprang into action, devising strategies to weather the storm. In her office, Richard's phone rang nonstop.
"I helped lead U.S. Bank's internal response, quickly responding to clients, board members, regulators, rating agencies and large investors," she said. "I participated in the activation of the bank's contingency funding plan, overseeing deposit outflow and managing regulatory response."
Though the crisis was stressful, the excitement was par for the course for Richard, who reports directly to U.S. Bank Chief Executive Officer Andrew Cecere. She oversees a budget of $1.1 billion and manages a team of 5,000 employees globally.
Today, Richard is busy bringing U.S. Bank's fusion center to life. She put teams from various departments, including fraud strategy, which was in payment services, and reputation and strategic risk management, formerly in strategy and corporate affairs, under her leadership. Together, the teams share information and resources to prevent, investigate and respond to emerging risks, she said.
Thinking back on her path to success in the risk sector, Richard said she feels immense gratitude toward her former managers who guided and supported her. "My mentors have mostly been male bosses who recognized my potential and experienced my work and then advocated for me when opportunities arose for promotions and senior roles," said Richard, who came to U.S. Bank, a subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp, from HSBC 10 years ago.
To pay it forward, Richard spends ample time growing diversity, equity and inclusion at U.S. Bank, she said. She's the executive sponsor of its women business resource group and its women of risk management and compliance, an invitation-only mentorship program.
Helping other women is important to Richard, who was one of two female chief risk officers at the top 15 banks in the country and one of five in the top 25 as of early August.
"My best advice [for women] is to understand the business of banking — its balance sheet, business mix, how banks make money, regulatory oversight and community reinvestment," Richard said.
Maintaining an intellectual curiosity about industry developments and market performance is key, too. "This breadth and depth of knowledge will help rising bankers understand the different parts of a banking organization and how they intersect with servicing customers," she said.
When asked about the most valuable guidance she received from her mentors, however, Richard recalled their immediate and honest feedback. "One piece of advice that really resonated with me was to … find a way to say 'yes,'" Richard said. "'Yes' to special assignments, 'yes' to business requests by providing risk and control solutions and 'yes' to always balancing risk/reward decisions."
