Present Institution: Blakely is President and Chief Executive Officer of The Risk Management Association. He became the seventh CEO in RMA's history on July 30, 2007.
Present Job Function: In this capacity, he is responsible for developing and implementing strategic direction as well as providing oversight for overall operations of the firm.
Previous Employment: Prior to joining RMA, Blakely worked for Cleveland, OH-based KeyCorp, a $100 billion diversified banking company. At KeyCorp, he served in a variety of risk related positions, including a decade as its Chief Risk Officer. An early pioneer of enterprise-wide risk management, Blakely built the framework for Key's risk management program by consolidating most of the company's risk related functions under one umbrella organization. Further, he introduced quantitative measurement as a critical component of monitoring and managing risk, including development of one of the industry's first economic capital attribution programs.
During his 17 year tenure with Key, Blakely had oversight for a variety of departments, including: commercial and retail credit policy, trading and capital markets policy, compliance, credit review, internal audit, government affairs, quantitative analysis and corporate security. At various times he also served on the board and executive committee of KeyBank, N.A. and was a member of the company's management committee and executive council.
Prior to joining KeyCorp, Blakely served 17 years with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). In 1973 he started his career with OCC as a field examiner in the State of Illinois. He rose through the agency quickly, culminating in his appointment as Deputy Comptroller for Special Supervision in Washington, D.C. In this capacity he was responsible for providing supervision for the most troubled companies in the national banking system. At OCC, Blakely served as Chair of the Supervision Review Committee which implemented the agency's enforcement authority. He also served on the Supervision Policy Committee which helped develop agency positions on banking matters. At OCC, Blakely was recipient of the prestigious Comptroller's Award which acknowledged outstanding contributions to the agency.
Education: Blakely received his undergraduate degree in Finance from Southern Illinois University. He also holds an MBA, with distinction, from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH.