About
The work became my school.
- Based in
- Tampa, Florida
- First management role
- At 18
- Banking and payments leadership
- Since May 1996, beginning at Equifax Payment Services
- Citi
- 2012 to May 2026, most recently SVP, Risk Management (Second Line of Defense)
The longer version
1991I graduated from high school in 1991. Later that year, at 17, I gave birth to my first daughter, who was born prematurely.
College had been part of my plan. I had been accepted, and I attended Hillsborough Community College for a few semesters. But I needed to earn a living, become capable of taking on more responsibility and have time left to be a present mother. Learning had to be something I could put to use immediately.
I began motherhood as a single parent. I met my future husband in 1996, and we married in 1999. Our family life changed. The way I had learned to approach responsibility stayed with me.
Learning by applying itI had worked since I was 15 and taken my first management role at 18. In May 1996, I began the banking and payments leadership record that would become the foundation of my career. As the business evolved from Equifax Payment Services to Certegy to FIS, my responsibilities grew through customer service, process improvement, project management and implementation.
Each new responsibility gave me something to learn and somewhere to apply it. Over the years, I added PMI training, coursework through Harvard Business School Online CORe, and Citi's internal executive, regulatory and AI education.
My highest completed formal qualification remains a high school diploma. No degree did not mean no rigor. I needed to understand the principles, apply them, recognize when something was not working and take responsibility for making it better.
Citi, from 2012I joined Citi in 2012. My career there moved from leading AML investigative teams to global compliance technology delivery and then to second line risk management. Most recently, I served as Senior Vice President, Risk Management, in the Citibank N.A. Chief Risk Officer organization, with responsibilities for the CBNA risk segment.
Some of the lessons I carry most closely came from working through problems with my teams
How we found a better way to work.
With one AML team, we had a substantial caseload, firm deadlines and quality standards to meet. I brought everyone together to understand the volume and the reasons behind the requirements, and I asked each person which kind of case they most enjoyed working.
I expected everyone to choose the easiest cases to close. Most of the team wanted the research. They liked following the information and finding something that warranted a closer look.
Their answers gave us a better starting point.
A teammate with strong Excel skills sorted the caseload by type. We used that information to work out assignments around people's strengths while keeping the distribution fair. Then we tested the approach against an actual month of work.
People were absent. Other obstacles came up. We held short conversations, looked at the quality results and adjusted. Some people needed more time to assess a case, and their work was excellent. That mattered.
Eventually, we were completing our assigned cases within the regular workday, with capacity left at the end of the month to help the wider department.
The team had helped shape the approach. They understood the expectations, could see their contribution in the results and could go home when their workday was done.
Since Citi
Risk and controls discipline, applied to AI-assisted workSince leaving Citi, I have been learning and building with AI. The work is new, but the habit of learning through application is familiar.
When AI helped draft my professional materials, I caught language that changed the meaning of my experience. Employment began to sound like consulting. Responsibilities appeared under the wrong role. I developed a claim register connecting statements to sources, recording accurate wording and identifying language that would overstate the truth. I used AI to help build checks and required explicit review of revisions.
I used the tool; I didn't let it write my record.
Forms of JoyForms of Joy gives my creative side room to work. I am developing reflection journals and sentiment cards that help people pause, say something honest and connect. I care about the structure, the words and the beauty of the finished piece. I also care about the person who will hold it and what they might need in that moment. Products are in development. Follow the work on Instagram at @formsofjoystudio.
Giving backGiving back is part of how I live. I provide meals and care packages to people in my community and across the city, and I mentor young people, former colleagues and peers. I value showing up, sharing what I've learned and helping others move forward.
TodayToday, I am pursuing my next senior leadership role while developing an independent advisory practice and building Forms of Joy. I am still learning, applying and creating, with a clearer sense of the work I want to do and the way I want people to experience working with me.
The standard I hold myself to remains
Protect the people. Honor the process. Empower the vision. Deliver the work.™
For editors and conveners
A short biography in the third person, for programs, introductions and articles.
Olivia L. Young is an operations, payments, technology and risk leader. Her banking and payments leadership record began in May 1996 at Equifax Payment Services, which became Certegy and then FIS, where she directed North American payments implementation. At Citi from 2012 she led AML monitoring and investigations, then compliance technology delivery, and from April 2022 to May 2026 served as Senior Vice President, Risk Management (Second Line of Defense), in the Citibank N.A. Chief Risk Officer organization. She writes a connected series of papers on authority, evidence and accountability when people and AI systems act on an organization's behalf, beginning with Who Authorized the Agent?, and she is the creator of Forms of Joy, a creative studio with products in development. She is based in Tampa, Florida.
Her papers reflect her professional judgment and public sources. They do not provide legal advice or state what a regulator or examiner expects.