A chief risk officer can never rest on his or her laurels, especially one heading up risk management at Munich-based Allianz Group, the international financial services firm with more than $100 billion in annual revenue that provides products and solutions in insurance, asset management and banking.

Thomas Wilson is the fluent economist who runs the global risk function at Allianz and is responsible for day-to-day management of limits and controlling of all risk positions. Given the topsy-turvy global economy over the past five years, it's a full-time job.

“If you had asked me in 2007 about backing long-dated Italian bonds, I would have said it's a safe bet,” Wilson says. “Today that's not true, of course.”