Faculty
Michael Diarra
Faculty Director
Michael Diarra is a Risk Management Senior Executive Officer with over 20 years of leadership experience in financial services, specializing in technology risk management, data governance, AI/ML risk mitigation, and regulatory strategy. He is the winner of the University of Chicago Booth MBA Global New Venture Challenge for developing the architecture of an Artificial Intelligence governance and compliance SaaS application, merging innovative technology with regulatory solutions. Michael is the recipient of the FFIEC Outstanding Achievement Award for pivotal contributions to enhancing technology and data supervision capabilities within Federal Financial Regulatory Agencies. He is a Commissioned Federal Examiner with a proven expertise in leading end-to-end audit functions, risk transformation initiatives, and IT risk assessments aligned with COSO, NIST, and FFIEC standards.
Kari Danek
Kari Danek brings more than 20 years of cross-disciplinary experience spanning engineering research, financial analysis, mergers and acquisitions, product development, and venture capital to the MSRM program. She teaches Foundations of Quantitative Reasoning and Risk Analytics, the core quantitative methods course in the program.
Danek is co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of Riverwalk Capital Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm, and serves as Managing Director of Corporate Strategy at IHT Wealth Management, where she leads strategic planning and M&A due diligence. Earlier in her career, she held senior engineering and technical leadership roles at Life Fitness and Exponent Failure Analysis Associates, where she applied quantitative methods to product safety, failure analysis, risk assessment, and regulatory compliance. Her work has spanned consumer products, electromechanical systems, and biomechanics, with direct engagement on matters before the Consumer Product Safety Commission and standards bodies including ASTM International.
Danek is a licensed Professional Engineer and a long-standing volunteer with the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES), where she contributes to the development of national licensure examinations for mechanical engineers. She serves on the Audit and Finance Committee of the Board of Noble Charter Schools and has previously contributed to product safety advocacy through Kids in Danger (KID).
She holds a PhD and MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan (Rackham Scholar), an MBA with High Honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business (Wallman Scholar), and a BS with Highest Distinction in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Virginia (Rodman Scholar).
Terry Cottrell
Terry Cottrell is Vice President for Information Technology and Planning/CIO at the University of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois. In addition to 25+ years of practitioner expertise in various levels of IT management and business governance, his career includes 20+ years of teaching work, numerous publications, and conference presentations about leadership and risk management, cybersecurity, trends in research methods, budgeting negotiation, media impacts on cognition, hands-free A/R tools, copyright, and strategic planning. Terry holds BA and MBA degrees from University of St. Francis in Joliet, Illinois, an MS degree from the iSchool at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, an EdD from Northern Illinois University, and an MS degree in Enterprise Risk Management from Columbia University. He has served on numerous non-profit boards and provided angel investments to four successful startups. He is also active in residential/commercial real estate management and equity investment markets. Terry has designed and taught a variety of courses at Colorado State University-Global Campus, the University of St. Francis, Northern Illinois University, Northwestern University, and serves as an associate in the School of Professional Studies at Columbia University. In his free time, Terry enjoys being with his family, traveling, writing, numerous outdoor activities, and is never far from very good coffee.
Brian Hua
Brian Hua is a business, technology, and enterprise risk leader with over 20 years of experience advising financial institutions, government agencies, and global organizations on complex transformation initiatives. His work spans capital markets, housing finance, and regulatory environments, with a focus on aligning strategy, artificial intelligence, technology, and risk management to drive execution at scale. Brian began his career on Wall Street, holding roles at Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and Soros Fund Management, where he developed expertise in derivatives, structured products, foreign exchange, and global capital markets. He later joined Ernst & Young, where he advised clients including Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, GE Capital, Bank of America, and Treasury leading large-scale programs across mortgage, risk, and operational transformation. He subsequently founded Newbridge Consulting, partnering with Big Four firms to deliver enterprise-wide risk and business transformation initiatives in collaboration with major institutions and federal agencies. His work is grounded in leading enterprise risk management frameworks, including COSO Enterprise Risk Management (ERM), ISO 31000, the NIST Cybersecurity Framework, and the NIST Artificial Intelligence Risk Management Framework (AI RMF 1.0). Brian is also the Founder and Lead Developer of Glasshouse AI, a platform focused on AI-driven simulation, system design, and the future of human interaction with intelligent technologies. At Northwestern University, he develops and teaches Project and Engagement Management for Risk Leaders, preparing students to lead enterprise risk initiatives in an increasingly AI-driven environment. Brian holds an MBA from Georgetown University and a BA in Economics from the University of Rochester.
Penny Cagan
Penny Cagan is an experienced risk professional with a career that has spanned Operational Risk, Compliance, Consulting, Research and Risk Technology leadership roles. She is considered a pioneer in the field of Operational Risk Management and has received industry recognition, including achievement awards for “Outstanding Contribution to Operational Risk” and “Ten Years of Excellence” from Operational Risk & Regulation Magazine. She knows from her extensive experience working with a variety of financial institutions what works in the real world from a risk, governance, and regulatory perspective. She currently serves as a Senior Risk Advisor to financial institutions.
Penny most recently served as Managing Director and Head of Operational Risk for UBS Americas, where she was responsible for managing the operational risk and control environment in the region and across the bank’s businesses and functions. Penny previously served as Head of Operational Risk and Governance at MUFG Americas, where she was responsible for overseeing the bank’s operational risks in the region. She managed through a series of examinations and has a deep understanding of how to balance regulatory and policy requirements with strategic endeavors and business considerations.
Penny has also worked as a Managing Director at Ernst and Young where she led a variety of projects in the risk and compliance disciplines, including managing the firm’s support for the regulatory horizontal exam of sales practices and conduct risks, operational risk and compliance and money laundering assessments. In prior roles, she served in a global Operational Risk senior oversight role at JPMorgan Chase and built a Compliance Analytics team at Citigroup.
Penny founded an Operational Risk database during the early days of the discipline that became a standard for assessing risks and controls across a variety of financial institutions. She has published widely on the topic of operational risk and speaks frequently at conferences. She is author of an Operational Risk book titled Managing Operational Risk in a Changing World.
Penny earned a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science from Rutgers University, Master’s of Fine Arts from New York University in Creative Writing, and Bachelor’s degree in English Literature from University of Rochester.
Penny is a life-long New Yorker and has been deeply engaged with her community. She is currently Board Chair of the New York City non-profit, Women Creating Change.
Bany Ismail
Bany Ismail is a data and analytics transformation leader with deep experience across risk management, advanced analytics, and business strategy. In leadership roles at PwC, Capital One, and VW Credit, Bany has built analytics capabilities spanning credit risk, portfolio monitoring, model risk management, forecasting, customer analytics, and enterprise decision support. His work has centered on using data to uncover insights which drive decision-making. He has developed models and analytics solutions that enhance monitoring, strengthen governance, and enable more effective risk decisions. Bany brings an applied perspective on how statistical reasoning, data exploration, predictive analytics, and dashboarding can be used to identify, quantify, and communicate risk across business processes. He holds an MS in IT Management from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, and a BS in Computer Science from the University of Toronto.
Travis Ringger
Travis Ringger has spent nearly two decades applying technology and data analytics to risk management, audit, and business processes with a focus on natural language processing, intelligent automation, and generative AI. Throughout his career at PwC, Travis has served as an IT auditor, data-analytics specialist, software engineer, and AI architect helping clients in banking, manufacturing, education, and consumer products. He now designs and implements AI-enabled workflows powered by large language models and autonomous agents to transform risk processes and disrupt how global organizations approach control testing, anomaly detection, and regulatory monitoring.
He has taught graduate-level coursework at NYU Stern School of Business since 2021, where he built hands-on curriculum in SQL, Python, data visualization, and applied AI for Master of Science in Accounting students. He has also worked to modernize the broader accounting curriculum to prepare the next generation of professionals for an AI-driven landscape. Whether in the classroom or in practice, his goal is the same: help people at all skill levels use technology to work smarter and deliver higher-quality results.
Travis earned his MBA from Northwestern University and holds a BS in Information Systems from Brigham Young University.