About Frank Sellhausen

Federal bank examiner. As a Risk Management Examiner in Charge at the FDIC, I examined institutions from small community banks to multi-billion-dollar asset holders against federal standards. Led model risk and third-party risk reviews. Conducted IT and BSA/AML examinations. Briefed findings to bank management, boards of directors, and regulatory leadership. What that work built: the reflex to look at a document with skepticism before belief, and the discipline to put findings on paper that survive examination.

Builder inside a Fortune 50. Five years progressing across analytics, data engineering, and AI product management. My team built the account-level data layer that served as the single source of truth across the enterprise — reconciling a landscape of disparate systems that had been producing different versions of the same facts. I authored the Data Engineering Playbook for my organization (provenance, lineage, controls, data contracts) and later owned the AI use-case approval process for the product management organization, defining the requirements, documentation, and acceptance criteria for AI features built on vendor-supplied models. What that work built: a builder’s read on what governance has to actually look like inside the build, not stapled on top.

Sixteen years in uniform. U.S. Army Drill Sergeant and Observer-Controller/Trainer at a Combat Training Center — the unit type that originated the After-Action Review. Observed units operating under pressure, assessed performance against standards, delivered structured, evidence-based feedback. Functionally, the same discipline as a model risk review: observe, document, defend the assessment, hand back something the next team can act on.