Kristen Drobnis

Kristen Drobnis, PMP, CBCP, CSOX, and CGRC, is currently vice president, chief risk officer at Commonwealth Financial Network. She is also an adjunct professor at Northeastern University instructing in the Master’s of Project Management and Data Analytics Programs. Teaching courses in project risk management and risk analytics. Previously, Ms. Drobnis was senior vice president of privacy at Santander and vice president of risk management at TD Bank and a senior director of technology risk management at Fidelity Investments. Ms. Drobnis has been working in financial services industry for twenty years including brokerage, insurance and banking. She is co-author on the American National Standard (ASIS) on Conducting Risk Assessment released in 2015. Ms. Drobnis has an undergraduate degree in finance and a master’s degree in Leadership from Northeastern University. She also has a Master Certificate in Financing and Banking and a Certificate in Computer Crime and Security from Northeastern and a certificate in Project Management from Boston University.

What makes you a Risky Woman?

I am a Risky Woman, as I help organizations and others learn about risk from both the positive and negative side. I also drive the value of risk across the organization and within my teaching. I am passionate about risk management as I know the importance of having a program that is throughout an organization and ensuring everyone understands risk ownership. I lead by example through mentoring others and developing people on my team as well as outside the organization. I stay involved in Risk and Insurance Management Society so I can learn new techniques and give back to others in the risk profession. It is so important to set the right risk culture whether in an organization or in your daily life.

Name your top 3 achievements

1. Co-authored an article Assessing and Re-setting culture in enterprise risk management,2016
2. Contributor to the RIMS Risk Executive Report on An Overview Of Widely Used Risk Management Standards and Guidelines 2011
3. Developing course work at Northeastern University in risk management

What is the biggest risk you’ve taken in your career?

My biggest risk was to leave the risk profession and go into product development in 2014. This was a great learning opportunity especially where I learned that I belong within the risk management field and not within the product side.

What’s something most people don’t know about you?

I was featured wearing a chef hat with my friend Pepper on a poster for the 40th celebration for Faneuil Hall / Quincy Market in Boston.

What is the best quality for successful leaders in Risk?

Understand the value that risk brings to organizations and organizations need to take risks it is just how they manage them that determines how successfully the organization will be.