Kathryn Judge Keynote Speaker

Expert on banking, financial innovation, financial crises and regulatory architecture.
Harvey J. Goldschmid Professor of Law and Vice Dean for Intellectual Life at Columbia Law School.
Editor of the Journal of Financial Regulation and a research member of the European Corporate Governance Institute.

Kathryn Judge's Biography

Kathryn Judge is an expert on banking, financial innovation, financial crises and regulatory architecture. In her book Direct: The Rise of the Middleman Economy and the Power of Going to the Source (HarperBusiness), she uses the insights she gained from years of studying financial intermediation to explain broader shifts in the structure of the economy, the increasing power of intermediaries across numerous domains, and how these changes have contributed to new sources of fragility and undermined accountability.

Kathryn regularly presents her work to audiences in the United States and abroad, allowing her to engage with an array of policy makers, academics and industry leaders. Her academic work has received accolades from academic peers and industry. Her book Direct was on the longlist for the Financial Times Business book of the Year, among other accolades.

Kathryn currently serves as an editor of the Journal of Financial Regulation and a research member of the European Corporate Governance Institute. She previously served on the Financial Stability Task Force co-sponsored by the Brookings Institution and Chicago Booth School of Business as well as the Financial Research Advisory Committee to the Office of Financial Regulation. While serving on FRAC, she co-chaired the working group on financial innovation and the working group on the LIBOR transition.

Kathryn is currently the Harvey J. Goldschmid Professor of Law and Vice Dean for Intellectual Life at Columbia Law School. Prior to joining Columbia Law School, she clerked for Judge Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals and Justice Stephen Breyer of the Supreme Court. She also worked as a corporate associate with Latham & Watkins LLP. She is a graduate of Stanford Law School (J.D. with Distinction, 2004), where she earned the Urban A. Sontheimer Honor (second in class), and Wesleyan University (B.A. with High Honors, 1999).

Regulatory Landscape: Banks and Beyond

Top U.S. bank regulators have produced an ambitious agenda that will shape banks, fintechs, and the environment in which they operate for years to come. Judge will draw connections between the current political landscape, the trajectories that landed top policy makers in their current roles, and the current agenda to provide new insight into how the regulatory landscape is likely to evolve in the months and years ahead.

Supply Chains: Challenges and Opportunities

Companies around the world are re-examining how their source critical inputs in response to ongoing supply shocks. Judge explains why the fragilities were foreseeable, even if foreseen by only a few, and how understanding the importance of “intermediation” can help companies can a competitive edge as they seek to navigate future uncertainties, changing customer preferences, and the ESG movement.

The Middleman Economy

Over the past four decades, the economy has been transformed by the rise of increasingly large intermediaries and increasingly long supply chains. Judge shows how these two trends are deeply intertwined, how they help explain the increased focus on competition by top policy makers in the United States and other jurisdictions, and the myriad risks and opportunities this landscape creates for forward-looking corporate leaders.

She brings deep authority on banking, financial innovation and systemic risk, grounded in leading scholarship and hands-on experience advising regulators and financial institutions.
She helps leaders understand how intermediaries shape modern markets, translating insights from her award-recognised book Direct into clear implications for resilience, accountability and strategy.
She offers rare perspective on regulatory architecture and financial crises, informed by her roles with the Financial Stability Task Force, the Office of Financial Research and global governance bodies.
She equips senior audiences to navigate innovation and uncertainty by connecting legal frameworks, market structure and real-world decision-making in a rapidly evolving financial system.