Richard Falkenrath
Richard joined Bridgewater in 2014 and is currently Head of Client Service and Head of Geopolitics. He is also a member of the Commercial and Business Strategy Committee, Operating Committee, and a Partner of the firm. As Head of Client Service, Richard is responsible for ensuring excellent delivery of the firm’s investment capabilities to our global institutional clients. Beyond this, he engages clients and leads research on the challenges posed by geopolitical conflict to global investors and the sizable impact that government policy can have on economies and markets. For nearly a decade, he was Bridgewater’s Chief Security Officer, responsible for all aspects of Bridgewater’s security. From 2020 until the end of 2022, Richard was also Chief Administrative Officer, where he directed Bridgewater’s operational risk management and administration; managed the firm's legal, regulatory, security, human resources, and real estate departments; and led Bridgewater's handling of the COVID pandemic.
Prior to joining Bridgewater, Richard had a distinguished career in national security, foreign policy, and law enforcement. From 2006 to 2010 he served as Deputy Commissioner for Counterterrorism of the New York City Police Department. Additionally, from 2000 to 2004, he was a member of the National Security Council and White House staff, ultimately as Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Homeland Security Advisor. Prior to the White House, Richard was Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He has also been the Stephen and Barbara Friedman Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Contributing Editor to Bloomberg TV.
Outside of Bridgewater, Richard is Senior Fellow for National Security at the Council on Foreign Relations; a member of the Trilateral Commission; a member of the Aspen Strategy Group; and a member of the Mission Committee of the Board of Governors of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional and author or co-author of several books. Richard is a summa cum laude graduate of Occidental College, with degrees in economics and international relations. He received a Ph.D. from the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, where he was a British Marshall Scholar.
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