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Radhika Dholakia-Lipton is one of the nation’s most esteemed authorities on internal auditing, compliance, operations and risk management for financial institutions. She’s a tenured banking executive, accomplished business woman, in-demand conference speaker and philanthropist who excels in banking regulatory compliance, policy and procedure development, internal audit services, implementing controls to mitigate risk, and strategic planning and process improvement consulting. Holding executive roles for leading national, regional and community banks since 1990, Radhika has navigated the cyclical market and regulatory events of the past three decades – including Dodd-Frank and the banking crisis of 2008. In 2017 she founded RADD LLC to put her experience to work to help other financial institutions optimize returns, mitigate risk and protect their brands.
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Radhika began her career as a top performing Personal Banker, advancing to Branch Manager, for Wells Fargo before joining, and rising through the ranks of Citibank. In 2001 her career took a turn when she was hand-picked as Senior Reviewer for Citigroup’s Audit and Risk Review division. Later promoted to Program Director, she managed a team of 12 auditors and played a key role in major national and international initiatives encompassing Operational Risk and BSA/AML compliance as well as other critical programs.
In 2007 Radhika was recruited for the role of Senior Vice President/Chief Banking Officer for Wedbush Bank, a start-up De Novo bank where she wore many hats – Head of Operations, Compliance, BSA, Information Security, Business Continuity, and Vendor Management. She led the start-up organization from concept and strategic planning to successful launch in 2008 and growth to $250M in five years.
In 2012 she joined Sunwest Bank where, as Executive Vice President / Chief Compliance and Bank Secrecy Act Officer, she managed Internal Audit, Compliance and Risk functions for community bank locations across four states. She revamped the BSA/ AML program, ensured ongoing adherence to all statutes and regulations, led M&A compliance due diligence, and was responsible for business continuity and vendor management. She also notably instituted a complex foreign banking correspondent program.
She led the Operational Risk Task force for Citigroup and various other national committees for process improvement and is engaged to lead strategic planning and process improvement workshops for financial institutions and non-profits. She is an active member of the CCBN association and a former member of the CBA and the WIB association.
Radhika is known for her honesty, integrity, and reliability. She’s a creative problem solver who approaches challenges with a “can do” attitude and believes that, if given the opportunity, there isn’t anything she can’t accomplish. And, unlike the stereotypical internal auditor or compliance officer, she believes her job is to help fix problems, not just find them.
