Michele Wucker

About Michele Wucker

Michele Wucker is a global risk and economic policy expert, best-selling author, strategic advisor, and educator. She coined the term “gray rhino” to counter leaders’ surprising vulnerability to obvious, probable, impactful risks. The concept and accompanying analytical framework are the subject of her influential global bestseller, THE GRAY RHINO. The sequel, YOU ARE WHAT YOU RISK, explores the psychological, physiological, cultural, organizational, and policy influences on risk taking.

Her gray rhino metaphor has moved markets, shaped financial policies, and made headlines in more than 75 countries –especially China– and 35 languages. The accompanying framework has been adopted across U.S. national security and emergency preparedness communities. It has shaped discussions at the World Economic Forum, NATO, the United Nations, the Munich Security Forum, Drucker Forum, and high-level gatherings on ESG and climate.

Michele is founding faculty and a board member of the DCRO Risk Governance Institute 

She is a Distinguished Lecturer in the University of Virginia’s Master of Public Safety Program, where she co-teaches Risk Management for Public Safety. She also is a Lecturer at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, where she teaches Global Risk Policy. 

A former media and think tank executive who wrote about emerging market finance early in her career, Michele is founder of the Chicago based strategic advisory firm, Gray Rhino & Company. She speaks regularly to high-level audiences and is cited in leading media on risk, the global economy, and decision-making. She is an advisor to the India affiliate of the Institute for International Risk Management and the think tank APRI Armenia. 

The World Economic Forum recognized her as a 2009 Young Global Leader; her other honors include a 2007 Guggenheim Fellowship, 2008 American Council on Germany Young Leader on the Future of Europe, and 2010 Womens Media Center Woman Making History. Michele has served on high-level academic and policy task forces including the World Economic Forum Global Futures Council on Frontier Risks; SUNY-Levin Institute New York in the World Advisory Council; and Brookings-Duke Immigration Policy Roundtable.

Her first two books were the well-reviewed WHY THE COCKS FIGHT: Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola and LOCKOUT: Why America Keeps Getting Immigration Wrong When our Prosperity Depends on Getting It Right. All four of her books have been taught widely.

She holds a BA from Rice University and a Master of International Affairs from Columbia University SIPA, where she later was an adjunct associate professor. She also holds a certificate in Global Leadership and Public Policy from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.