COURSE NUMBER: MBA 237-11*, this class is cross-listed with EWMBA

COURSE TITLE: Risk Management

UNITS OF CREDIT: 1 Unit

INSTRUCTOR: Carlos Blanco, Jean Hinrichs, Robert Mark

E-MAIL ADDRESS: carlos@blackswanrisk.com, jhin3333@msn.com, bmark.blackdiamond@tmo.blackberry.net

CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION (HTTP URL): TBA

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Sundays, 10/5 & 10/19, 10AM-6PM

PREREQUISITE(S): Core Finance (MBA203)

CLASS FORMAT: Each topic will be introduced using a lecture and highly interactive format. The material will be illustrated by reference to risk management concepts, tools, and techniques and by solving one or more basic problems.  We will then use a combination of cases, articles, and more sophisticated problems to solidify your understanding of the concepts and to enhance your ability to identify and manage the various types of financial and non-financial risk.

REQUIRED READINGS:
Course reader and a textbook [Crouhy, Galai, and Mark, The Essentials of Risk Management, McGraw Hill, 2006])

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE:

• Individual case study paper (50%)
• Group project case study discussion (30%)
• Class participation (20%)

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:
This MBA level course on Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) provides an overview of modern risk management, including organizational issues, regulatory aspects, potential problem areas, and tools to control and manage firm-wide risks, which include market, credit, operational, reputation, business and strategic risks   In today’s world of multibillion-dollar credit losses and bailouts, as well as regulatory initiatives such as the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) and executive compensation disclosures, it has become increasingly imperative for corporate leaders to monitor and manage risk¾on all fronts. Risk Management introduces the foundation for creating an integrated, consistent, and effective risk management strategy.

Our course exams the modern risk management function and provides an overview of how to design a firm-wide risk management program, as well as techniques to measure and manage market, credit and operational risk.  

The course is based on the rich experience of the three instructors, and provides an inside look at many aspects of financial and operational risk management covering concepts, tools, techniques, and infrastructure.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
Carlos Blanco, Ph.D.
Dr. Carlos Blanco is Managing Director and co-founder of Black Swan Risk Advisors, LLC, a risk management advisory and educational services firm. He is also the co-founder and Managing Director of NQuantX LLC a Financial Engineering Solutions provider. He is an expert in financial, energy and commodity risk management and modeling. His expertise ranges from risk and pricing model development to strategic risk management and policy related issues.

Carlos is a former VP, Risk Solutions at FEA (a MSCI Barra company). He was an essential contributor in the development of the derivatives risk management models, and provided strategic and tactical leading-edge risk advisory and educational services to over 500 energy and commodity trading firms and financial institutions worldwide. Prior to FEA, Carlos worked for an Emerging Markets hedge fund and an asset management firm in Madrid, Spain. He has published over 100 articles on risk management and derivatives pricing, and lectures extensively on topics related to enterprise wide risk management, financial risk measurement, derivatives pricing and hedging and other risk topics.  

Jean Hinrichs, CIA, CFE
Jean Hinrichs is a risk advisor with extensive experience creating or transforming enterprise risk management and internal audit functions.  She has published articles on risk management and ethics, and has presented at numerous business conferences and universities.

Jean is a former SVP, Chief Audit Executive at Fannie Mae, a $2.9 trillion mortgage business, where she restructured Internal Audit and created a high-performance team.  She provided strong leadership for oversight of one of the largest financial restatements in history and remediation of pervasive material control weaknesses.    

Prior to Fannie Mae, Jean was Chief Risk Officer at Barclays Global Investors (BGI), which is one of the largest institutional investment managers in the world with over $1 trillion in assets under management.  Her CRO responsibilities included credit and market risk, operational risk, legal, compliance, internal audit, insurance, and corporate security.  She initially joined BGI in 1997 to establish a global internal audit function.  Before BGI, Jean served as General Auditor of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank and held a variety of increasingly responsible positions at Unocal Corporation.

Jean earned a MBA from San Francisco State University, with an emphasis in quantitative analysis and global marketing.  She is a Certified Internal Auditor and Certified Fraud Examiner.  She is past president of the San Francisco Chapter of the Institute of Internal Auditors.  She was also co-regional director of the Bay Area Chapter of The Professional Risk Managers’ International Association and served on an advisory committee for the Washington, DC chapter.

Robert Mark, Ph.D.
Dr. Robert M. Mark is the Chief Executive Officer of Black Diamond Risk Enterprises. Black Diamond provides corporate governance, risk management and compliance consulting along with transaction services for multinational corporations.  He serves on several boards including the Investment Committee of Checkpoint.  In 1998, he was awarded the Financial Risk Manager of the Year by the Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP). He is the Vice Chairperson of the Board of the Professional Risk Managers’ International Association (PRMIA)

Prior to his current position, Dr. Mark was the Senior Executive Vice-President and Chief Risk Officer (CRO) at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC).  He was also a member of the Management Committee.  His global responsibilities covered credit, market and operating risks for all of CIBC and its subsidiaries.  Prior to his position as CRO, he served as Corporate Treasurer.

Prior to CIBC, Dr. Mark was the Partner in charge of the Financial Risk Management Consulting practice at Coopers & Lybrand(C&L).  The RM Practice at C&L advised financial institutions and multi-national corporations on enterprise-wide risk issues.  This specialty area also coordinated the delivery of the firm’s accounting, tax, control, and litigation services to provide clients with integrated and comprehensive risk management solutions and opportunities.

Prior to his position at C&L, Dr. Mark was a managing director in the Asia, Europe, and Capital Markets Group (AECM) at Chemical Bank.  His responsibilities encompassed risk management, asset/liability management, research (quantitative analysis), strategic planning and analytical systems.  He served on the Senior Credit Committee of the Bank.  Before he joined Chemical Bank, Dr. Mark was a senior officer at Marine Midland Bank / Hong Kong Shanghai Bank (HKSB) where he headed the technical analysis trading group within the Capital Markets Sector.

Dr. Mark earned his Ph.D., with a dissertation in options pricing, from New York University’s Graduate School of Engineering and Science, graduating first in his class.  Subsequently, he received an Advanced Professional Certificate in accounting from NYU’s Stern Graduate School of Business.  In addition, he is a graduate of the Harvard Business School - Advanced Management Program. Dr. Mark is an Adjunct Professor and co-author of “Risk    Management” (McGraw-Hill), published in October 2000, as well as co–author of “The Essentials of Risk Management” (McGraw Hill) published in December 2005.  He has served on the board of ISDA and was appointed Chairperson of the National Asset/Liability Management Association (NALMA).