I know ages and educational backgrounds do not speak for everything. But I have been wondering about the education and work background about the two Credit Suisse executives just let go.
Lara Warner, BS out of Pen State in 1988. Worked for AT&T and Lehman Brothers as Equity Research. No quantitative background or capital market background.
Brian Chin, BS Rutgers on accounting. Worked at US DA office, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte & Touche, then Credit Suisse from 2003.
From what I know, Wall Street firms hired a lot of blue blooded MBAs from top B schools. A lot of them started from Sales & Trading, Equity Research and other departments. Then they also hired a lot of PhDs in their risk management department.
But Credit Suisse has not done any of that. I just do not know why. Maybe personal relations and loyalty with the firm is far important?
Some are just very good at navigating the corporate maze and climbing the corporate ladder. They know the right person to "network" with, the right thing to say, the right thing to do at the right time with the right person. And they are able to pull off spectacular results at the right time in front of the right person. All those investment firms, they are like the "American Idol", as much as they value academic credentials, they look more for the "wow factor", the "midas touch", this magic factor. If you've got it, you can make money grow (or at least seem to be able to) in a relatively short time, you are the man/woman. When you have this "wow factor" or the "midas touch", the sky is the limit how high you can climb. And when there are no positions for them to promote you to, they will even create one for you. Since past performance is never an indication of the future. You are only good until you are not especially when you've never been good except at "networking".
Brian Chin certainly fits this pattern. Read it for yourself his employment performance and history.
https://www.efinancialcareers.com/news/2021/04/brian-chin-credit-suisse
For Lara Warner, I think she's more like a scapegoat in this fiasco. She's a compliance and risk management officer, a window-dressing post that is hardly effective in reining in anybody who wants to bet big on any ventures especially given her educational background and employment history. She is a science major and to me a junior equity analyst with some experience in telecommunication. If you really want somebody who knows what he/she is talking about regarding managing risk, somebody who can do some serious risk management and compliance, you want either somebody like Taleb or some former SEC officer, not a junior equity analyst. But when s*** hits the fan, just like that Jeremy Irons character said to Demi Moore's character in the movie "Margin Call", "I need a head to feed to the traders". So just like Demi Moore's character, Warner is it so other people higher up's jobs are secure. See for yourself if this is the case:
https://www.bloombergquint.com/mark...cing-risk-chief-in-looming-executive-shake-up
Anyway, don't worry though they will get their golden parachutes and they will be paid well. And despite their f*** up's, they will still be highly sought after still in all the industries. They must be flooded with phone calls from headhunters right now and I wouldn't be surprised if they've already got several offers waiting for them. This is the difference between those who've made it to the top and the little guys like us. With them, when they get fired because of their f*** up's, as long as they didn't do anything criminal, it's like they get a huge promotion with a golden parachute package and even better job prospects with even higher salary. With us little guys, when we get fired heaven forbid because of tiny little mistakes, we get tossed out with nothing.
