After decades leading in the fields of compliance, privacy and enterprise risk, Judy Titera has built a career helping organizations navigate complexity with clarity and confidence. Today, the retired executive serves as a paid member of several national boards of directors, where she advises leaders on governance, cybersecurity and the rapidly evolving impact of artificial intelligence on business.
Titera earned her Executive MBA from the Lubar College of Business while balancing the demands of a growing career and personal life. The experience strengthened both her business perspective and her professional network, particularly through the close relationships formed with her EMBA cohort, affectionately known as the “LaB Rats” (learning and balance).
“The LaB Rats weren’t just study partners. They were a real peer network of accomplished professionals who were willing to be honest with each other,” Titera said. “That’s rare. I still count some of them among my closest friends.”
Her career path included major leadership roles in highly regulated industries, including a move to Texas for a leadership opportunity with USAA. Titera said each career transition was fueled by curiosity, instinct and a willingness to embrace uncertainty.
“I’ve never made a major career move feeling fully ready,” she said. “The confidence I acquired through the EMBA program helped me to make major career moves where I needed to trust I would figure it out.”
That mindset continues to shape her work in the boardroom, particularly as organizations grapple with emerging technologies and rapidly changing risks tied to AI, cybersecurity and data governance. Titera believes effective leadership today requires curiosity, candor and the confidence to ask thoughtful questions.
“The best boards I’ve been part of are ones where directors bring genuine intellectual curiosity and the courage to ask questions they don’t already know the answer to,” she said.
Titera frequently advises executives and board members on how to approach AI responsibly without becoming overwhelmed by the pace of change.
“You don’t need to be a technologist to govern these risks, but you do need to keep current,” she said. “The most important thing is don’t let the complexity of the topic be a reason to disengage from it.”
She encourages leaders to focus less on mastering every technical detail and more on developing judgment, perspective and strong governance practices. “The leaders who will thrive are the ones who can hold both the promise and the peril without collapsing into either uncritical optimism or reflexive fear,” Titera said.