Lawrence G. McDonald

Lawrence G. McDonald noted economist, Political Policy Risk Manger and NY Times Best Selling Author. Mr. McDonald is currently Managing Director, head of the US Macro Strategies group at Société Générale, based in New York City. At the height of the 2008 financial crisis, Mr. Lawrence McDonald wrote a book on the fall of Lehman Brothers, “A Colossal Failure of Common Sense: The Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers.” In his book, Larry details his experience working as Vice President at Lehman Brothers in New York and provides a behind-the-scenes look on why one of the most prominent investment banks failed. The book is a risk manager’s guide to all the right and wrong moves, and explains why investors must stay ahead of policy moves coming out of Washington and Europe. Published in 2009 by Random House, Colossal Failure hit the New York Times Best Seller’s list in its first five days on the bookshelves, and is now considered one of the bestselling business books in the world. Colossal Failure is now translated into 12 different languages. Larry is a European & Washington policy risk analyzer. He is a frequent guest contributor on Bloomberg, CNBC, Forbes, MSN Money, Fox Business, Forbes and the Huffington Post. He’s highly regarded political policy risk consultant to hedge funds, family offices, asset managers and high net worth investors. His 17 Lehman risk indicators help investors get in front of painful risk-off trades in the global markets. Notably is Larry’s involvement as special advisor to the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC), created by Congress in 2009 to investigate the causes, domestic and global, of the economic and financial crisis in the United States. Additionally, Mr. McDonald has participated in four major financial crisis documentaries: Sony Pictures Academy Award winning documentary the Inside Job, BBC‘s The Love of Money, CBC‘s House of Cards, and National Geographic’s Decade of the 2000’s (estimated release Summer 2015). Since publishing Colossal Failure, Larry has delivered over 100 keynote speeches in 17 different countries, speaking at Banks, Investment Firms, Conferences, Law Firms, Insurance Companies and Universities.