Calculated risks

His deep-rooted interest in uncovering patterns and creating structure from numbers naturally aligned with the risk management industry — and leveraged the skills he honed in the UB School of Management’s Executive MBA program.

As chief risk officer at the African Trade and Investment Development Insurance (ATIDI), Ehimare leads the Risk Department to develop frameworks, ensure compliance with national standards and help maintain ATIDI’s strong financial ratings and its ability to support trade and investment in African member states. 

“Since joining ATIDI eight months ago, I’ve worked to develop new policies, improve processes and put the right people in the right place,” he says. “In the months ahead, we will be deploying AI-driven systems to manage our capital allocation and scenario analysis. I’m so excited because I can finally say, ‘Here’s the risk, here’s the data; now we can make confident decisions.’”

Ehimare began his career at Citibank, working for more than 14 years across Lagos, Nigeria, and in Buffalo before transitioning into development finance. He held leadership roles at the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, including as group head of risk control and chief business officer. He also worked at HSBC in operational risk before joining ATIDI.

He says enrolling in UB’s Executive MBA program was his turning point, both personally and professionally, helping him build the business skills and the self-assurance that propelled him to leadership roles in his field.

“My time in the UB School of Management helped me learn to plan, to be tenacious, and it opened my mind up and built my confidence,” he says. “The program made me a better leader and a better person.”

In particular, he says Professor Frank Krzystofiak’s data modeling course provided an “aha!” moment and gave him skills he put to work at the office right away, and continues to use to this day.

“Once Frank gave us his cheat sheet — boom — I was able to do things I didn’t even know were possible,” he says. “That was such a big deal for me because in risk, we are the ones who manage the data and do the modeling. It became part of me and I began using it all the time.”

When he’s not putting those skills to the test at work, Tony enjoys long-distance walking and running, reading and spending time with family.

For current School of Management students, Ehimare says to embrace every opportunity and enjoy yourself.

“My advice is to have fun and to take everything your professor is giving out, grab it, learn it and try to think it through and understand how you can apply it before you go out in the world,” he says.  “It’s a rich program. Enjoy the ride.”