Richard Ryffel

Richard Ryffel

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Richard Ryffel is a Professor of Finance Practice (Part Time) at Washington University’s Olin Business School. During his 40-year career in industry, he has worked as a municipal and corporate finance banker, private banker, and endowment and foundation advisor. He has had line and leadership positions at IBM, A.G. Edwards (now Wells Fargo Advisors), Edward Jones, Bank of America and J.P. Morgan. Currently, he is the Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Wealth Management, as well as a Board Member of First Bank, a 100-year old family-owned community bank based in St. Louis.

His teaching responsibilities include a graduate level Financial Markets course, an MBA program Sales Management course and an online MBA FinTech course. He serves as a regular faculty advisor to Olin’s Center for Experiential Learning (CEL) and the Center for Finance and Accounting Research (CFAR). He is the curator of WashU’s newest online learning community – FinTech in Focus – and its podcast series.

He is the founder and chair of Olin’s Wealth and Asset Management Research Conference and the founder and co-chair of the WashU / Brookings / UChicago / Brandeis Municipal Finance Conference. Additionally, he is a published co-author in the area of municipal bond market efficiency and has co-authored several case studies on finance.

Area of Expertise

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Banking and Financial Institutions, Business-to-Business Marketing, Entrepreneurship

Education

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• MBA 1989, Boston University (Questrom) Graduate School of Management
• BS 1984, Tufts University

Awards/Honors

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• Gerry and Bob Virgil Ethic of Service Award, WashU Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement, 2020
• St. Louis Business Journal C-Suite Award, St. Louis Business Journal, 2019
• Reid Teaching Award, Washington University, 2016
• Daily Point of Light Award, Points of Light, 2014
• J.P. Morgan National Good Work Volunteer of the Year, 2013

Teaching Interests

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Finance, financial crisis, investment banking, sales management, public finance.

Research Interests

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Municipal bonds, urban education policy, wealth management

Personal Interests

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A native of Fairfield, Connecticut, Rich is an avid runner, having completed five marathons and countless half-marathons. He and his wife of 35 years, reside in Clayton, Missouri and have four adult children. He is active in the community, serving on numerous not-for-profit boards, notably Beyond Housing, which serves residents of the Normandy School District through holistic services including housing, healthcare, economic development, and commercial services such as a movie theater, food court, bank and grocery store. His most recent project is the renovation of the Normandie Golf Course (one of the oldest courses west of the Mississippi) through the Nicklaus & Normandie partnership.