An Elevator Ride with a Fitness-Forward Risk Management Master

If you’re ever in a descending elevator with Lecturer Ken Abbott (Department of Law), chances are he’s headed down to the Baruch ARC (Athletics and Recreation Complex) in the basement of the Newman Vertical Campus. “I’m still the same weight I was when I got married 30 years ago,” says the former chief risk officer for the Americas for Barclays Bank, who works out five to seven days a week. “I refuse to let myself age prematurely.”

Zicklin News spoke to Ken on a recent elevator ride to find out how he got to the Zicklin School, why his classes are so popular, and what else he does in his spare time.

“I first came to Baruch and the Zicklin School as a guest lecturer in 2010, while I was working for Morgan Stanley as chief operating officer for risk management. It went very well and I was invited to become an adjunct lecturer. After several years of doing that, I was invited to teach full time. By that point, I was tired of the 11-hour days, stress, and politics of Wall Street, where I’d had a front-row seat during the financial crisis. Barclays was in a budget crunch at the time so I suggested to my boss that he save some money by letting me retire. I haven’t looked back since.

“I think of my classes as four-month interview prep courses for helping students get entry-level jobs on Wall Street. Academic finance definitely has its place, but our students need practical advice. Knowing financial models might impress someone during an interview, but they don’t really help you on the job. So I don’t emphasize memorization, unless it’s something they need to know for a job interview, and I typically require only short papers of three to five pages in length, unless I’m teaching an honors course.

“I once won 20 dollars when a student, who was ex-military, bet that I couldn’t do half as many pushups as he could. He did a hundred very sloppy pushups, and I easily pushed out 50. Another fun fact about me is that I play the tuba—in fact, I recently performed with about 350 of my tuba buddies at Tuba Christmas. It’s an annual event where we play Christmas carols under the tree at Rockefeller Center.”

Categories: Faculty