About Me

As a seasoned leader in business ethics and risk management, specializing in financial services, Azish Filabi is committed to fostering trust and ethical leadership in today's complex economic landscape. With a legal background and diverse experience across regulatory, private, and academic sectors, she has dedicated her career to shaping systems that uphold social responsibility and ethical standards.

Currently, she is the Managing Director of the American College Maguire Center for Ethics and hold the Charles Lamont Post Chair of Business Ethics at The American College of Financial Services, where she is also an Associate Professor of Business Ethics. She conduct workshops and training sessions on business ethics, including spearheading the American College's annual Ethical Leadership Forum, and teaching and designing courses on business ethics for the American College’s Masters Programs and continuing education offerings. In addition, she leads the Center’s strategic vision and impact, including through its Alliance for Ethics in Financial Services.

Her research and teaching activities include the ethics and regulation of artificial intelligence (AI), trust in financial services, ESG and systems-level investment considerations, and the behavioral science of ethical decision-making.

She has taught business and society classes as an adjunct professor at the NYU Stern School of Business and at Marist College. She is a faculty member for the Mastering the Age of Strategy Disruption program of the DCRO Risk Governance Institute, and was a case study expert in the Institute’s Certificate in Risk Governance Course. She is currently part of the Athena Alliance, a community of women leaders seeking to support each other to build and grow social impact. Her board roles have included service on for-profit and non-profit boards, including as a member of the Boards of Directors/Trustees of the following organizations: at USQ Funds (a '40 Act interval fund); Microfinance Transparency; National Lymphedema Network; and the East Coast Greenway Alliance.

She is actively involved in professional associations in the legal profession. From 2022 to 2023, she was chair of the NY State Bar Association (NYSBA) International Section, leading impactful initiatives and education programs for a diverse group of international lawyers. From 2023-2024, she was a member of the NYSBA Strategic Planning Committee. Currently, she co-chairs the NY City Bar Association's Presidential Task Force on AI and Digital Technology's Subcommittee on AI in Commerce and Finance.  Since 2008, I've been the Co-chair and Co-founder of the Social Finance and Enterprise Committee, where she championed innovative approaches to foster financial inclusion and social impact through developing communities of practice and knowledge sharing. 

Azish began her career with a passion for using economic systems for equality in her first internship the summer after graduating from college at Fair Trade USA in San Francisco. She returned to the D.C. area to work at the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) in the development and new initiatives function, working on fundraising and programs, including women and leadership initiatives at the United Nations. After law school, she moved to NYC to work as an Associate at the international law firm of Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle, LLP. After two years, she transitioned to public service at the Federal Reserve Bank of NY from 2007 – 2015. As a member of the NY Fed’s legal team, she was actively involved in the response to the 2008 Global Financial Crisis by providing counsel to various emerging liquidity facilities created at that time in response to severe market disruptions caused by the crisis.   

Her first role in academia was as a Sr. Research Scholar at the NYU Stern School of Business, where she was also an Adjunct Professor and the Executive Director of Ethical Systems, an organization co-founded by Professor Jonathan Haidt to help business leaders use research-based strategies to help improve trust and integrity in their organizations. After NYU, she joined the global asset management firm BlackRock as a member of their investment stewardship team, engaging with board members and CEOs of companies in which the firm was invested to address corporate governance and environmental and social issues that effected financial assets.

Azish is a Double ‘Hoo, having graduated as an Echols Scholar from the University of Virginia, and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. She also received a Masters in International Affairs from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), attending both their Washington, D.C. and Bologna, Italy campuses. She speaks fluent Persian and is proficient in French. She was born in Mashhad, Iran, and currently lives in Charlottesville, VA.