Peter H. Frank

A student of philosophy and business, Peter embarked upon a career in journalism after graduating from Georgetown University. As a business reporter, he joined The New York Times in the Dallas bureau covering all industries in the region, including the then-volatile banking and energy sectors. He later moved to The Baltimore Sun, where he reported on banking, insurance, the capital markets, and the economy before being named Financial Editor.

In 1996, Peter was hired as Director of Corporate Communications at MBNA America Bank, where he oversaw media relations and internal and external communications in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Ireland. After the bank’s purchase by Bank of America, he held several senior roles in global banking, leading business and market expansions, product development, sales, and strategic marketing in the U.S., Mexico, and the U.K.

During the 2007 financial crisis, Peter moved to Romania, where he consulted, taught, wrote, and returned to work in the media and journalism. During that time, he led courses in retail banking to industry executives and served as managing editor and anchor of a nightly business TV show. He was a senior lecturer at the Maastricht School of Management’s MBA program, teaching critical thinking, writing, strategy, and game theory. He was also a business columnist for Esquire, Elle, and other publications. His consulting roles included serving as executive editor and publisher of a major national newspaper and as marketing director for one of the country’s largest media companies. His book, I’m Tired of Being Stupid, based on his MBA lectures, was translated into Romanian and published in 2015 by Editura Humanitas.

In 2016, Peter moved to Silicon Valley, where he has held positions as a lecturer and teacher in critical thinking and writing to corporate executives, managing director of an international investor relations advisory firm, executive editor at a startup financial news website, and editorial director for financial services and fintech clients, including Discover Financial Services and BNP Paribas. He has also consulted for several private and publicly traded companies in the areas of communications, investor relations, marketing, and public relations.

During his career, Peter has written extensively about the fundamentals of business, corporate strategy, equities, finance, marketing, communications, politics, and culture. He has taught and lectured on the topics of business, critical thinking, writing, strategy, game theory, and retail banking to entrepreneurs, managers, executives, and students at the undergraduate, post-graduate, and MBA levels.

Through it all, he’s marveled at how too many businesses – and people – fail to maintain a fundamental clarity, curiosity, openness, and humility that are the hallmarks of being truly less stupid.

 

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