Meet the Co-Founders

 

Susan Allard, Institute Co-Founder and Chairperson

An expert on the American Innovation Workforce, backed by 25 years of proprietary research on job creation in the knowledge economy, Susan’s is a respected voice on policy and investment. 

Since 1983, from its roots in executive search for financial services, Susan and her founding partners have cultivated the Allard Institute into a  “one-stop shopping” knowledge partner and resourcer for business, government, and education markets both domestically and internationally.  Specializing in financial services, where the knowledge-based business tools that drive information age productivity were first invented and applied, Allard has consistently cultivated the industry’s best business and scientific talent, with a focus on those capable to assume leadership.

As cross-industry demand grew for the Innovation Workforce that Allard was consolidating, Susan built up its “Bank of Intellectual Capital”, which today is a unique and highly concentrated repository of over 32,000 Innovation Workers and Business Leaders who have created trillions of dollars of new economic value through such inspired cross-sector successes as data-mining, automation, risk management, new payments technologies, CRM, rules-based engines, networks and new technologies, fraud and anti-terrorism, and e-commerce.

Allard’s clients include knowledge-leveraging organizations across industry sectors and around the globe seeking high returns on their investments in human capital and technology.

Susan started her career as a marketing analyst and service manager in the airline industry (international), subsequently achieving a senior level product position in Global Correspondent Banking at Wells Fargo Bank.

Jim Gorman, Institute Co-Founder, Board Advisor.

Jim has an uncanny understanding of marketplace dynamics, and the new opportunities for investment that they create.  He has a consistent track record and proven capacity for building shareholder value via new product development, organic growth, partnerships, joint ventures, and corporate mergers and acquisitions, across a number of venues from credit card to investment banking to internet platforms.  His ethics, sound business judgment, consistent ability to create new value, and gift for leadership have all earned him on-going industry respect.

Jim has held senior officer positions at leading financial services firms including Citibank, Household, PNC, and Chase.  He has also been instrumental in the success of a number of start-up companies.  Jim’s accomplishments transcend the US, encompassing diverse markets in North America, South America, Europe, and the Middle East.

In addition to his advisory role at the Allard Institute, Jim is employed by Berkshire Hathaway, where he has responsibility for investments within the Americas. 

Sarah Davies, Institute Co-Founder, Board Member. 

Sarah has built her performance capacity on the classic triad:  superior leadership skills, innovative roles in pioneering companies, and a solid scientific foundation.  An expert on enhancing productivity through knowledge applications, Sarah has experience across the full distribution chain spectrum from marketing to operations, business analytics, and collections. 

Sarah is currently a Member of the Executive Team at VantageScore Solutions, responsible for Analytics and Product Development.  VantageScore is a highly predictive consumer credit risk model, marketed by Experian, Equifax and TransUnion, that applies a consistent algorithm to expand the scored universe across diversity lines.  Previously, Sarah was Chief Analytic Officer for IntelliRisk Management Corporation, Executive Vice President Marketing Services at First USA, Senior Vice President Marketing at Advanta Financial Services, and Chief Operating Officer at SkillGames (part of Walker Digital).

Sarah’s passion as a member of the Institute is to use her gifts and know-how to further global safety via socially responsible international development, serving markets for micro-finance and the underbanked, and talent mentoring and support programs to develop human capital to its full potential.

Elizabeth Mays Ph.D.

Elizabeth is an economist and industry leader in the field of risk modeling and quantitative risk management for financial institutions.  With over twenty-five years experience in the financial services sector, Elizabeth has run analytics and modeling organizations for some of America's largest banks. 

Elizabeth started her career as a government economist analyzing financial institutions for the Government Accountability Office and later was a regulator with the Office of Thrift Supervision during the S&L crisis of the late1980s and early 1990s.  As her career progressed, she gained experience in applied credit risk modeling at Freddie Mac and went on to head a risk modeling organization at Citigroup.

Presently the Head of Consumer Risk Modeling and Analytics at JPM Chase, Elizabeth heads a group of 65 quantitative professionals responsible for building, validating, and implementing statistical risk models for all Chase’s consumer lending businesses.  These models are used for loan underwriting, fraud screening, portfolio management, collections and recovery efforts, and evaluation of capital adequacy.

Elizabeth is the editor/author of four books on model-building and analytics including the widely consulted "Credit Scoring for Risk Managers".  She is a vocal advocate of transparent risk management practices and is an industry spokesperson for best practices in risk model development and strong risk model governance.