Nicole Kitowski started her career at Associated Bank as a teller in high school. Nearly three decades later, she brings that experience on the front lines to her role as Associated’s chief risk officer. “If you’ve never faced a customer, you have the risk of making the best possible risk and compliance decisions without understanding the unintended consequences from a customer perspective.”

On the latest episode of the ABA Banking Journal Podcast — sponsored by Risk Proof, a PwC product — Nicole Kitowski, chief risk officer at Associated Bank, also discusses how technology is shaping the practice of risk management, top fraud trends she’s seeing in 2021, the pursuit of efficiency in risk management and other topics.