Al Ciafre
Managing Vice President, Regulatory Relations
Capital One
Milestones
My road in life took a while to figure out.
In college in the 1980s, I was enamored with international politics and the Cold War, in particular.
So I majored in Political Science with an emphasis in international policy.
I continued school with a Masters degree in Public and International Affairs and Russian Language.
I wanted to build bridges between nations and spent the 1990s working in the former Soviet Union.
I worked on a bunch of projects aimed at promoting democracy and small business development.
I then received an MBA because I wanted to learn more about finance and the capital markets.
I joined Capital One after school and spent 17 years in capital markets in corporate treasury.
Finally, I wanted to apply my skills learned to date in a new role and joined regulatory relations.
Education
High School
Career
Managing Vice President, Regulatory Relations
Manage the Company's relationship with its banking regulators
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Business
Non-Profit Organizations
Learning / Being Challenged
Day to Day
A great day is one in which I can leave at the end of the day knowing I have learned something new and or made a positive difference in the lives of people around me, whether they be members of my team or my business partners in the company. The nature of my daily work is to collaborate with so many teams across the organization to prepare and execute on regulatory engagements. Additionally, I often engage with the industry on regulatory policy advocacy on a range of issues.
Advice for Getting Started
Here's the first step for college students
Pursue a degree in public policy, social sciences or business.
Recommended Education
My career is related to what I studied. I'd recommend the path I took:
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
"You shouldn't study Russian because it's too hard."
Challenges I Overcame
First-Generation College Student
