Leo Tilman

Leo M. Tilman is an American financier, author, and entrepreneur. He is a leading authority on strategy, risk intelligence, and finance and a long-time advisor to companies, governments, and institutional investors around the world. Tilman currently serves as Chairman and CEO of Agilion Systems, an advanced technology and strategic advisory firm. Prior to founding Agilion (formerly Tilman & Company), he held senior positions with BlackRock and Bear Stearns, and taught finance at Columbia University. 

Tilman is the author of four books – Agility (2019, with former NORAD Commander General Chuck Jacoby), Financial Darwinism (2008), Asset/Liability Management (Ed, 2003), and Risk Management (2000, with BlackRock co-founder Ben Golub). In 2010, in collaboration with the Nobel economist Edmund Phelps, he co-authored a Harvard Business Review proposal to create the First National Bank of Innovation as a way to reignite US economic dynamism. In a 2012 European Financial Review article, he redefined risk intelligence as a new core competence of companies and investors.  

Tilman was one of the main architects of a public/private partnership involving the White House Rural Council, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Farm Credit System that brought billions of private capital to innovative companies and projects (2014-2017). At Columbia University, he created and taught a core curriculum, graduate-level course on risk and finance and served on the executive education faculty (2006-2016).  

Tilman received B.A. and M.A. in mathematics from Columbia University and executive education in leadership and policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs at Yale University. He is a Trustee of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science; co-founder and board member of the Institute for Science and Policy; and international advisory board member of the Center on Capitalism and Society at Columbia University.  

Tilman has been profiled as Business Visionary by Forbes, a distinction given to “influential authors, decision makers, and thought leaders in the field of business.” He was honored by the World Economic Forum among a select group of executives, public figures and intellectuals recognized for “their professional accomplishments, commitment to society, and potential to contribute to shaping the future of the world.”