JPMorgan Chase CIO Craig Delany ’93 addresses alumni group

Two decades ago, after he earned his finance degree from Lehigh, Craig Delany ’93 joined JPMorgan Chase and Company, then a 12,000-employee organization.
Today, JPMorgan Chase employs 265,000 people worldwide, and Delany is global chief investment officer and treasurer. He manages a $350 billion portfolio in fixed income, $350 billion in short-term cash, and $300 billion in debt issuance, securitization and other liabilities.
Delany was appointed global CIO following the “London whale episode,” a 2012 trading scandal for which JPMorgan Chase last year paid $920 million in fines to settle investigations by four regulatory agencies.
Delany discussed his career trajectory and his responsibilities at JPMorgan Chase two weeks ago in New York City, before an audience of 120 at the ninth annual spring program and networking event of the Lehigh Wall Street Council.
“I work within a framework of independent checks and balances,” Delany said. “The regulators have it right: On a grand scale, you need redundancy, independent controls, oversight and transparency.
“We have lots of constraints and rules and all of those things must be taken into account when we deploy scarce resources such as capital, liquidity and leverage. When it comes down to it, our objectives are to add shareholder value while serving our clients and customers.
Delany is also responsible for managing JPMorgan Chase’s pension plan investments, its mortgage servicing rights and its bank and corporate-owned life insurance. His group has approximately 750 employees.
“While this is a fun job,” he said, “when I’m doing my job right it should be a bit boring.”
Andrew Fife ’85, president of the Lehigh Wall Street Council noted, said he was “delighted” that Delany could address the group.
“Beyond his significant management and investment role, Craig has been directly involved in meeting major challenges to the company, not least of which is the 2008 financial crisis, and the acquisition of Bear Stearns, and helping to lead the mortgage turnaround following the housing collapse. We’re delighted that he could address an interested group of fellow alumni.”
The Lehigh Wall Street Council was founded a decade ago when Fife and co-founder Michael Connor ’80, ’14P, realized that Lehigh had a huge number of alumni in the business sector.
The group also sponsors an annual Financial Services Forum at Lehigh each fall to help students network with alumni and prepare for the job search.