Effective leadership in law enforcement demands a combination of technical proficiency, strategic acumen, and interpersonal finesse. The leader must possess the ability to communicate with clarity and impact, both internally and externally, while displaying the confidence and decisiveness necessary to make difficult choices. Moreover, they must be adept at inspiring and empowering their staff, providing the guidance, resources, and support required for success.
Cassi Chandler, a seasoned leader with a remarkable track record in both law enforcement and banking, exemplifies the qualities of a successful leader. With extensive experience as an intelligence strategist, investigator, and leader of diverse teams, she has cultivated a culture of motivational leadership and inclusivity at some of the world’s most prominent organizations, including Bank of America and the FBI.
A Career of Excellence
Ms. Chandler spent 23 years with the FBI, leading investigations into white collar crimes, financial crimes, and cybercrimes, as well as directing criminal and domestic terrorism intelligence and foreign counterintelligence activities. She also redesigned the Bureau’s health care fraud and criminal intelligence programs and was appointed to the U.S. Senior Executive Service as an Assistant Director. She retired as Special Agent in Charge of the Norfolk, Virginia FBI Field Office. After leaving the FBI, she joined Bank of America, where she led fraud investigations and intelligence and built an integrated framework to identify, evaluate, and assess emerging regulatory risks and the operational effectiveness of enterprise coverage areas.
Founding Vigeo Alliances, LLC
“Vigeo” (Latin) – to thrive and flourish
Cassi is currently the President and CEO of Vigeo Alliances, LLC a culture risk assessment partner that supports businesses in growing emerging leaders, retaining diverse talent, and building a culture of leadership in an inclusive organization. Her experiences in different organizations (private and public) led her to observe the impact of “inept” leadership and drove her to seek opportunities where she could share her perspective with organizations and better the culture for all employees.
Joining Law Enforcement
While pursuing her law degree at Loyola University in New Orleans, she secured a part-time job at a CBS affiliate station to support herself financially. Prior to this, she had completed her undergraduate studies in English and journalism at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge and had worked a few years as a journalist and television news anchor for an NBC affiliate there.
When she was recruited and “first indicated I was interested in the FBI, a lot of my acquaintances were shocked.”
“When I was a child, the commonly held belief was that the FBI bugged your phone, did wrong things against Martin Luther King, and such. You didn’t aspire to be an agent.”
At the same time, Chandler’s mother had raised her to respect law enforcement, and when the FBI agents came to recruit her, “it sounded pretty exciting. I thought it might be like James Bond. It wasn’t. I thought there would be a lot more international intrigue, special gadgets, and travel. Instead, I was assigned to address complex white-collar investigations.”
Chandler started her career in the FBI by working in New Orleans for a duration of four years, during which she developed expertise in dealing with white-collar crimes and financial crimes. Following this, she moved to the FBI’s legal office in Washington, D.C., where she supervised civil litigation. Subsequently, she joined the white-collar crimes section and took on the role of managing and coordinating healthcare fraud investigations throughout the country.
Long Spanning Work Career
Cassi Chandler’s impressive career spans over two decades in law enforcement and private sector leadership. She has since served in numerous high-profile positions which include:
- City Of Aurora, Colorado
The Aurora Monitorship was based upon an agreement between the Colorado Attorney General’s Office and the City of Aurora to adopt a number of reforms aimed at enhancing public safety and public trust in the Aurora Fire and Rescue Department and the Aurora Police Department. As a member of the Aurora Consent Decree Monitorship, Cassi was entrusted with working closely with leaders of both the Fire and Police Departments reform recruitment and hiring policies in a manner that ensured qualified candidates of the diverse communities of Aurora were identified and successfully hired.
New York Police Department- Federal Monitor Team
As a former member of the NYPD Federal Monitor Team, Cassi assessed and made recommendations for changes and improvements to NYPD policies, practices, procedures, and training to ensure the Department’s adherence to Constitutional and bias-free policing as ordered by the Court. She evaluated the sufficiency of police investigations of community complaints for unconstitutional police conduct and she similarly reviewed and assessed allegations of racial profiling, analyzed and prepared matrices of data, observed body worn camera video footage for actions, behavior, and practices that may require additional attention, and she evaluated and reported on the sufficiency of improvements.
- Bank Of America- Senior Vice President
Cassi retired as Senior Vice President for Business Operations at Bank of America, where she was responsible for building an integrated framework to identify, evaluate and assess emerging regulatory risks and the operational effectiveness of enterprise coverage areas. Prior to working in Business Operations, she conducted compliance and risk assessments while a member of the Bank’s Compliance team. She earlier served in Corporate Security leading global fraud and cyber-crimes investigations while also developing enterprise-wide teams and analytic processes to counter emerging cybercrimes, fraud trends, and consumer risks. She was an executive advisor on the bank’s Global Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Board.
- Federal Bureau of Investigation- Assistant Director; Special Agent in Charge
Before joining Bank of America, Cassi spent 23 years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), where she directed criminal and domestic terrorism intelligence, white collar crimes, financial crimes, and cybercrimes investigations, and foreign intelligence activities. She led the FBI’s training division, redesigned the Bureau’s health care fraud and criminal intelligence programs, and was appointed to the U.S. Senior Executive Service as the agency’s first black female special agent to serve as an Assistant Director. She retired as the Special Agent in Charge of the Norfolk, Virginia FBI Field Office.
Building a Culture of Belonging
Most recently, Cassi has been working with several organizations an businesses, including those in the finance and banking industry, to help them create a culture of belonging. She developed a curriculum called Race, Diversity, and Me for the Pacific Coast Banking School at the University of Washington in Seattle, where students take a personal and introspective view of race, gender, ethnicity, and religion, and create a personal roadmap not only on how they can create diversity at their banks but also how they can make changes in their communities and personal lives.
Integrity and Innovation at Vigeo Alliance
At Vigeo Alliance, the company practices intellectual honesty, which means Vigeo only approaches work that aligns with its core competencies and values. From the first moment in speaking with a potential client, Vigeo makes it clear that their approach will be fact-based, authentic, and human-focused. This approach has allowed Vigeo Alliance to successfully navigate organizational hierarchy, move beyond “trendy quick fixes” and “check off the box” solutions – get to the heart of the issue of cultural belonging.
Awards for Excellency
Cassi is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Senior Executive Service Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious Executive under former President George W. Bush, the National Center for Women & Policing’s “Breaking the Glass Ceiling” award, and the Norfolk NAACP Trailblazer Award. She served on the U.S. Marine Corps Red Team, which monitored the Corps’ assessment of expanding infantry officer roles to women, and has served on numerous charitable and diversity boards. Cassi earned dual Bachelors of Arts degrees in Journalism and in English from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and a Juris Doctorate from the Loyola University School of Law.
Cassi is a remarkable leader and investigator who has made significant contributions to the fields of law enforcement and banking. Her commitment to building a culture of leadership and inclusivity at Vigeo Alliances, LLC has helped many organizations grow diverse talent where each individual can thrive.
Written by Steve Sanchez.