To His Credit

By Chip Hooper

FICO IS MORE THAN JUST A CREDIT score. Fair Isaac Corporation has transformed industries with its big data-driven predictive technologies for consumer behavior. Analytic software created by FICO is used to manage risk, fight fraud, and optimize operations. These technologies are employed across the globe and across a wide variety of industries, from financial services and healthcare to automotive and retail to telecommunications, media and entertainment, and the public sector, among others. Founded in 1956, Fair Isaac Corporation introduced the concept of the credit score as an impartial decision management tool. To this day, it plays a vital role in societies all over the world.

The company uses its various technologies to help businesses improve the precision and consistency of their financial decisions. More than half of the top one hundred banks in the world and ninety-five of the one hundred largest financial institutions in the United States number among FICO’s clients.

Given the scope of its operations, FICO must rely on a skilled legal team to navigate the complex intersections of law and technology as it is interpreted by different international governments. In 2004, the company hired Jim Woodward as a senior counsel who