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About Chad Ratashak

Chad Ratashak founded Midwest Frontier AI Consulting to help law firms and businesses use generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) responsibly through professional continuing education and training. Chad has spoken to numerous audiences on generative artificial intelligence, speaking to well over over one thousand people, presenting live and in person, presenting to record audiences (National Insider Threat Awareness Month 2024; ACAMS National Capital Chapter 2026), delivered keynote addresses, and provided live and recorded training.

Prior to starting his consultancy, Chad was a Senior Financial Crimes Officer, VP, in the Financial Crimes Intelligence team of a major financial institution and was the Private Sector Leader for the Department of Homeland Security’s Public-Private Analytic Exchange Program (AEP) on Ransomware Attacks on Critical Infrastructure in 2022.

ChatGPT was not his first encounter with AI risk as an intelligence analyst: in Q4 2017, he received two awards from an employer — a company-wide Commitment Award for the quality of a monthly analytical product; and a Teamwork Award for leading a multidisciplinary team that used machine learning to detect influence bots targeting an Arabic-speaking country.

He is from central Iowa, where he graduated from Southeast Polk and was a Page in the Iowa House of Representatives. Chad attended the University of Oklahoma as a National Merit Scholar, where he earned both a BA major in Arabic and a 5-year BA/MA in International Studies. He also completed the Arabic Language Flagship Capstone Year in Meknes, Morocco, and he ran a podcast on the linguistics of Moroccan Arabic with his professor for several years after.

Speaking & Continuing Education​

Chad has spoken to audiences ranging from law firms and financial crimes professionals to small business owners and developers. Selected engagements in reverse chronological order:

  • May 11, 2026: ACI’s AI & RegTech for Financial Services and Insurance Summit “Virtual Workshop B – Explaining Your AI Tool to the Regulator: Everything FS Lawyers Need to Navigate AI Audits and Reviews.”
  • April 2, 2026: Jennings Kallen Advisors webinar “Using AI and Avoiding the Landmines.”
  • March 25, 2026: ACAMS U.S. Capital Chapter webinar, "Dealing with the New AI Internet: Open-Source Intelligence and AML Investigations.”
  • March 18, 2025: LaunchPad Lab webinar “AI Legal Risks Every Executive Should Know.”
  • December 5, 2025: Two hours of Iowa-accredited continuing legal education (CLE)
    • Generative Artificial Intelligence Risks and Uses for Law Firms.
    • AI Gone Wrong in the Midwest (Ethics).
    • Now available on-demand on CLE Hero.
  • October 23, 2025: Keynote, Bondurant Developers Conference - "What Does Generative AI Mean for Central Iowa?" (Bondurant Area Chamber of Commerce).
  • September 11, 2025: Altoona Area Chamber of Commerce - "Business 101: Generative Artificial Intelligence for Small Business.”
  • September 2024: Two live virtual presentations for National Insider Threat Awareness Month (NITAM) at a major financial institution - the best-ever attended NITAM sessions according to the Insider Threats team.
  • October 2023: Special guest speaker at the Finance Transformation Office's Automation Day on generative AI.
  • Association of Certified Financial Crimes Specialists (ACFCS): talks on terrorism finance and ransomware; 2021 Scholarship recipient (Cybercrime Focus).
  • Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS): talks on generative AI and ransomware.
  • Naval Postgraduate School - guest lecture on generative AI.

At his prior role at a major financial institution, he also created two recorded trainings available to all employees (Introduction to Generative AI and Generative AI for Financial Crimes and Cybersecurity) and delivered Lunch & Learns for departments from Commercial Banking to Consumer Lending to Financial Crimes Investigations, reaching collectively well over a thousand employees.

Intelligence Analysis & Financial Crimes Background​

Chad has worked as an intelligence analyst across multiple roles, including as an OSINT analyst and linguist for a defense contractor and a financial crimes intelligence analyst in the FIU of a large bank. He has covered generative artificial intelligence (including use cases, risks, cybersecurity, and fraud) since 2023. His career has spanned data analysis, counterterrorism, anti-money laundering, cybercrime, ransomware, and various aspects of generative artificial intelligence.

DHS Analytic Exchange Program (AEP)​

Chad participated in the Department of Homeland Security's Public-Private Analytic Exchange Program (DHS AEP):

  • 2022: Private Sector Leader for the Ransomware Attacks on Critical Infrastructure group
  • 2023: Illicit Use of Cryptocurrency, Phase II - invited by the Phase I group

Education & Languages​

As a National Merit Scholar, Ratashak studied at the University of Oklahoma, earning a 5-Year BA/MA in International Studies with a Double Major BA in Arabic and International Studies. He studied abroad in Morocco and is fluent in the Moroccan and Levantine dialects of Arabic. He previously hosted a bilingual podcast on the linguistics of Moroccan Arabic called Mazyan Bizaf Show.

His knowledge of Arabic and linguistics has informed his work on LLM security concepts such as token smuggling, indirect prompt injection, and jailbreaking via foreign languages and non-Latin scripts.