David Koenig
David has been at the forefront of innovation in the governance of risk-taking for nearly 40 years. In every executive role held, he's built something new, often beginning from nothing more than an idea. He's a globally experienced board member and executive, highly regarded for his expertise and focus on risk-taking in pursuit of fulfilling corporate purpose.
Leaders in risk management and corporate governance have used expressions like “brilliant,“ “on the vanguard of innovation,” “intelligent,” “a true leader,” and “one of the best risk professionals out there,” to describe Koenig and his novel ideas. His first book, Governance Reimagined, has been described as “required reading for senior management and boards,” “brilliantly simple to understand,” “highly recommended reading,” and a “masterful, excellent book” that “should be on everyone’s reading list.” Said one analyst in a published review to the CFA Society, “Experienced directors and analysts…could do no better than to read [it].” The former head of the Norwegian Sovereign Wealth Fund said, “In the context of thinking that 'the organization' is the most important innovation of mankind, writing a book titled Governance Reimagined is quite ambitious. But David Koenig has delivered!”
David's work helps organizations achieve their goals through better risk-taking and better risk governance. He spent the first half of his career building and overseeing complex firmwide and portfolio-specific risk management programs. His focus shifted in the early 2000s to establishing and implementing global best practices for risk governance at the board level and the general practices of risk management.
Because of his innovative ideas, David has been invited to speak at nearly 200 events on five continents and was named one of the winners of the inaugural M-prize for management innovation in the category of Reinventing Leadership.
David has served on numerous for-profit and non-profit boards and has advised board members and executives worldwide. His executive leadership roles have included serving as a chief executive officer and leading the creation and development of corporate risk management programs at three different companies. He has been responsible for the management of complex financial portfolios in excess of tens of billions of dollars in size, the risk oversight of a complete suite of public mutual funds for one of the nation's largest banks, and the development of the first firmwide risk management program in the mortgage banking business. He is a member of the Economics Advisory Board at Miami University, a former Member of the Executive Advisory Board at the Center for Advancing Corporate Performance, and a former member of the Advisory Board of Money Science.
David is the author of the critically acclaimed book Governance Reimagined: Organizational Design, Risk, and Value Creation - the first book in a three-book series on how people best work together and The Board Member's Guide to Risk - a highly accessible guide to risk governance best practices and the creation of value through the work of boards. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Risk Management in Financial Institutions, where he was the invited Special Editor of three issues. David has written numerous articles and chapters in textbooks. He's been quoted in the Financial Times, on Bloomberg, in Time Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and other leading publications and, very early in his career, was a regular guest on the Financial News Network (now CNBC).
He is the President and CEO of The DCRO Risk Governance Institute, a global nonprofit peer educational initiative for boards, directors, C-suite executives, and aspiring directors that focuses on integrating effective risk governance into strategic decisions and achieving corporate goals. Graduates of the DCRO Institute’s programs serve on boards in more than 50 countries on six continents.
He is the founder of the Directors and Chief Risk Officers group ("the DCRO"). The DCRO was formed in 2008 to focus on the top-level governance of risk-taking in practice. Bringing together more than 2,000 leading board members, chief risk officers, and other C-level officers whose jobs include a fiduciary responsibility for governance and risk management, the DCRO tapped into member perspectives from more than 120 countries. David led the work of the DCRO Qualified Risk Director®Governance Council, which was responsible for the DCRO Qualified Risk Director®Guidelines, the DCRO Compensation Committee Risk Governance Council, which was responsible for the DCRO Guiding Principles for Compensation Committees, and the DCRO Risk Committee Governance Council, which was responsible for the DCRO Guiding Principles for Board Risk Committees. The DCRO merged into the DCRO Institute in September 2021.
David is one of the founders of the Professional Risk Managers' International Association (PRMIA), where he led that organization and the PRMIA Institute from its founding until 2007. By the time he handed over the reins, the organization had more than 45,000 members from over 180 countries, and annual revenues grew from zero to over $2.5MM. He served as the chair of the board of directors of PRMIA, the chair of that organization's ethics committee, a member of its academic advisory council, and a member of its education and standards committee. He had oversight of the development of all publications, training programs, member and volunteer relations, and strategic planning. He was honored as the recipient of the PRMIA Higher Standard Award in 2008 - the top recognition bestowed on any association member.
David was a mentor for the 2012 class of the acclaimed MiddCORE program of Middlebury College. He was also the only non-alumnus invited to be a member of the 2011 TRIUM MBA Term Project Executive Board (TRIUM is a joint program of NYU Stern School of Business, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and HEC School of Management, Paris). He has taught corporate finance and investments courses at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.
As a member of Rotary International, David earned multiple Paul Harris fellowships. His volunteer activities include Rotary Youth Exchange, leading an Ethical Leadership Workshop for high school students, launching a creative fundraising event for clean water in Guatemala, organizing rapid response volunteers to assist in local emergencies, and serving on the Rotary District 5960 Ethics Committee.
David earned his M.A. in Economics from Northwestern University, his MMBA, and his B.A. degrees in Mathematics and Economics from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. His travels have taken him to nearly 40 countries, and he conducts his work globally from a base in the Columbus, Ohio area.