After earning her University of Delaware degree in political science, Morgan Dean quickly pivoted to the banking industry where she has built an impressive career that led to her giving a Distinguished Alumni Lecture and meeting with UD Financial Services Analytics (FSAN) faculty and students during her daylong visit to the FinTech Innovation Hub on May 2.

Dean, a 2005 UD graduate, has worked the last eight years at JPMorganChase, and has served as Managing Director, Head of Risk Modeling for Consumer and Community Banking (CCB) since September.

Dean recently connected with her co-worker Kexin Yin, a fellow UD alum and current Vice President, applied AI ML Lead at JPMC, which led to a lunch with the pair and Bintong Chen, Chaplin Tyler Professor and Program Director of the M.S. and Ph.D. FSAN program at UD.

That meeting led to Dean spending an informative day with UD administrators, faculty, and students, highlighted by her giving the lecture on CCB Risk Modeling - the use of advanced analytics to assess credit, market, and financial risk across business lending portfolios.

Dean explained that in her current area, innovation that uses AI machine learning to drive innovation in risk modeling and in the consumer credit space has led to improved risk management.

“So what does that mean?” she said. “We use data, get more accurate models, and get better risk predictions that lead to different outcomes for people at the end of our process, and when we are more accurate in our predictions, we’re able to manage the bank’s risk. It leads to better financial outcomes for the bank as well, and we’re able to increase efficiency.”

Dean, who has held numerous roles since joining JPMC in 2017, said that when she discusses how she’s navigating her career, she talks about two dimensions: scope and skill.

“I’ve always said, as long as the role checks one of those boxes, I’m good,” she explained. “If it checks both, those are the hardest jobs you take, because you’re growing in multiple ways.”

Dean’s path from a political science major at the UD to Head of CCB Risk Modeling at JPMorganChase has been anything but traditional. 

Originally a computer science student, Dean switched to political science to accelerate her graduation and earned her degree in just three years. After a brief stint in law school, she realized that wasn’t the right fit. While working at MBNA to support herself through college, Dean tapped into her network and discovered the field of risk analytics, a career that combined her analytical mindset and coding skills.

“When they described the field, I said, ‘Great, I’m super logical, I know how to code, I know how to do analysis,’ because I’d taken classes here that gave me those skills,” Dean said. “So I got into that risk analysis space in 2006, and I loved it, and the rest is kind of history.”

Dean spent 11 years at Bank of America, which acquired MBNA in 2006, and rose to senior vice president. After leading U.S. consumer lending risk at Barclays, she joined JPMC in 2017 and has since held multiple leadership roles across credit forecasting and business lending. She credits her career growth to a mix of opportunity and initiative.

“Sometimes it’s the company saying this is what we need you to do, and those are great opportunities,” she said. “Sometimes it’s a proactive conversation with leadership saying I’m interested in learning this, or trying this other thing that I think will help me in the longer term.”

Dean, who cited leading a risk management team during the 2008 financial crisis and again through the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic as defining moments in her career, emphasized that technical expertise alone doesn’t make an effective leader. Instead, she said, it’s empathy that often makes the greatest difference, especially in times of crisis.

“Empathy is incredibly important, and remembering that people are people first,” Dean said. “It’s really easy to get distracted about what we need to accomplish, and that’s all very important. If we don’t deliver or accomplish our goals, then we won’t meet expectations. But at the end of the day, we have to be human, and I think that sometimes that can be easy to forget. So that’s something I always try to keep in mind.”

Throughout her leadership journey, Dean has found that connecting with team members on a human level, especially during high-stress periods, fosters resilience and trust. Her ability to balance performance expectations with compassion, she noted, has been central to her growth as both a manager and mentor.

Dean, who has worked in the area since graduation, has maintained connections to UD through sporadic mentoring of students and returning to campus for alumni weekend.

During her most recent visit when she spoke with FSAN students, Dean noted, “I just gave (the students) some practical advice, hopefully they thought might be helpful as they transition from academic to industry,” she said. “Things that can help make the transition a bit easier, which I kind of learned trial by fire.”

That advice featured tips on professional development, including focusing on continued learning, networking, mentoring, and taking advantage of exposure to senior leadership.

During the afternoon, Dean met the FSAN M.S. and Ph.D. students and listened to four FSAN students’ presentations about their research projects and provided constructive feedback and suggestions.

First-year doctoral student Homa Aghabebaei, one of the presenters, was appreciative of Dean’s visit.

“It’s been great for me, because the research that I’m currently working on is highly related to the banking industry. So that was very inspiring to me, and very helpful to hear (Dean’s) feedback on the topic,” she said.

The presentations left Dean impressed with the students and their research.

“It was great to meet the students, and great to see their passion for the research subject,” she said. “Having talent that is excited about the subject matter really translates into motivated individuals who will succeed when they leave the program.”

After spending the day meeting with Lerner administrators, professors and students, Dean was impressed with the entire FSAN program.

“The discipline that the program has around research day one and just building that muscle is impressive,” she said. “The problems they’re trying to solve are real-world problems that people are trying to solve in the industry. So as long as they continue to approach their research that way, it will be very applicable as they transition outside the program.

“Everything that I learned through my education and the early part of my career, they have meshed into one program from an interdisciplinary, connectivity standpoint to create these very well-rounded students,” Dean said. “Which is really cool.”