The following is a memo from Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Stephen J. Squeri that was shared in October 2026 with all American Express colleagues:
I am pleased to announce that Jodi Richard will join American Express as Chief Risk Officer of American Express and AENB, as well as head of the Global Risk & Compliance (GRC) team, effective January 25, 2027. Jodi will report directly to me. She will be based in New York and will be a member of the Executive Committee.
An accomplished risk executive with more than three decades of experience, Jodi has been instrumental in helping leading financial institutions manage risk, strengthen governance, and navigate an increasingly complex global regulatory environment. She joins us from U.S. Bank, where she served as Vice Chair and Chief Risk Officer since 2018, leading the full range of financial and nonfinancial risk functions across the company, including operational and enterprise risk management, credit and financial risk, compliance, fraud, cybersecurity, technology risk, and privacy, among others. Throughout her tenure, she has distinguished herself as a strong and trusted leader, advising the CEO, management and the Board on critical matters and working closely with regulators.
Prior to joining U.S. Bank in 2014, Jodi spent more than a decade at HSBC, where she held a variety of increasingly senior roles in risk management, from third-party risk, customer complaints, and crisis management, to ultimately leading the operational risk and controls organization for North America. In that role, she helped strengthen how risk was managed across the business, bringing together teams responsible for key areas including compliance, audit, information security, fraud, and anti-money laundering.
What particularly distinguishes Jodi's background is the breadth of perspectives she brings to the Chief Risk Officer role. She began her career as a National Bank Examiner with the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), where she was responsible for supervising banks and assessing their safety, soundness, and compliance. As a result, Jodi understands risk from both a regulatory and business perspective and has spent her career helping companies navigate change and growth while maintaining a strong control environment. Throughout her career in banking, Jodi has demonstrated that risk management should be an effective partner to the business, and that while the need to innovate and grow is important, what is even more critical is taking the right risks responsibly. This is imperative to protecting our customers and our company while enabling the business to move forward.
As Chief Risk Officer, Jodi will lead our global Risk organization and help ensure we continue to balance innovation, growth, and disciplined risk management as we execute our strategy. Her deep expertise, sound judgment, and collaborative leadership style make her the right leader for this role and for helping guide us as we pursue the opportunities ahead.
Please join me in congratulating Jodi. I look forward to welcoming her in January and working with her to continue strengthening our risk culture at American Express.