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National Seminar Speaker Biographies
May 12, 2017
January 30, 2014
Introductory Remarks
Andrew (Drew) Bowden
Drew Bowden joined the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC” or “Commission”) Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations in November 2011 and is the Director of its National Exam Program. Mr. Bowden previously worked at Legg Mason, Inc., and later for Legg Mason Capital Management in various roles, including legal, compliance, operations, sales, service, marketing, and corporate governance. Before joining Legg Mason, Mr. Bowden was a trial attorney and partner at a major Baltimore law firm. He has also served on the Board of Governors and Executive Committee of the Investment Adviser Association. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Loyola University in Baltimore and a law degree from The University of Pennsylvania.
Norm Champ
Norm Champ is the Director of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management of the SEC. Prior to becoming Director, Mr. Champ was the Deputy Director for the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations and the Associate Regional Director for Examinations in the New York Regional Office of the Commission. Before joining the staff of the Commission in 2010, Mr. Champ was Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Chilton Investment Company, an investment adviser to long/short equity hedge funds and managed accounts. He has been a panelist on examination topics at programs by the Commission, the Practicing Law Institute, the Saudi Central Bank, the New York City Bar Association and the International Bar Association. Mr. Champ has participated in the Commission’s Technical Assistance program in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. From 2006 to 2009 Mr. Champ was a member of the Board of Directors of the Managed Funds Association, an alternative investment industry trade group, and was the Chair of its Investor Protection Task Force. Mr. Champ is a Lecturer on Law at Harvard Law School where he teaches Investment Management Law. Prior to joining Chilton in 1999, Mr. Champ was with the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell. From 1990 to 1992, Mr. Champ clerked for the Honorable Charles S. Haight, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Mr. Champ has an A.B. in History from Princeton University and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He was a Fulbright Scholar at King’s College London where he received his M.A. in War Studies. University of Pennsylvania.
Andrew Ceresney
Andrew Ceresney is the Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. Prior to joining the SEC, Mr. Ceresney served as a partner in the law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, where he was co-chair of the White Collar Group and focused on representing entities and individuals in white collar criminal and SEC investigations, complex civil litigation and internal corporate investigations.
Prior to joining Debevoise, Mr. Ceresney, 41, served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, where he was a Deputy Chief Appellate Attorney and a member of the Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force and the Major Crimes Unit. As a prosecutor, Mr. Ceresney handled numerous white collar criminal investigations, trials and appeals, including matters relating to securities fraud, mail and wire fraud, and money laundering.
Mr. Ceresney served as a law clerk to the Honorable Dennis Jacobs, Chief Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit from 1997 to 1998. He served as law clerk to the Honorable Michael Mukasey, formerly Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, from 1996 to 1997.
Mr. Ceresney is a graduate of Columbia College and Yale Law School.
Panel I: Program Priorities
Jane Jarcho
Jane E. Jarcho has served as the National Associate Director of the National Exam Program’s Investment Adviser/Investment Company examination program since March 2013. She oversees a staff of approximately 450 lawyers, accountants, and examiners responsible for inspections of U.S. registered investment advisers and investment companies. Prior to holding her current position, Ms. Jarcho was an Associate Director in the Examination Program in the Chicago Regional Office.
Ms. Jarcho began her SEC career in the Division of Enforcement and has held several positions including Branch Chief, Senior Trial Counsel, and Assistant Regional Director before joining the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations in 2008. She has a B.A. from Middlebury College and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School.
David Grim
David W. Grim is the Deputy Director of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management. Mr. Grim joined the Commission in 1995 as a Staff Attorney in the Division’s Exemptive Applications Office. In 1998, he moved to the Division’s Chief Counsel’s Office, where he served in a variety of positions, including as Assistant Chief Counsel from 2007-2013. Mr. Grim graduated cum laude with a degree in Political Science from Duke University and received his law degree from George Washington University, where he was Managing Editor of the George Washington Journal of International Law and Economics.
Julie Riewe
Julie M. Riewe is Co-Chief of the Asset Management Unit in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. Prior to her appointment as Co-Chief in July 2013, she was an AMU Deputy Chief and an Assistant Director in the Division. Before joining the SEC in 2005, Ms. Riewe worked in private practice at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP in Washington, DC and served as a law clerk to The Honorable Diana E. Murphy on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. She received her A.B. degree from Duke University, and her J.D./M.P.P. from Duke University School of Law.
Panel II: Private Fund Adviser Topics
Ashish Ward
Ashish Ward is an Exam Manager in the National Exam Program at the SEC’s Los Angeles Regional Office, where he supervises investment management inspections that are conducted by teams of professional staff members, such as financial analysts (CFAs/MBAs), accountants (CPAs), and attorneys (JDs). Concurrently, he serves as one of the National Co-Coordinators for the SEC’s Private Funds Specialized Working Group, a national task force within the Inspections program (OCIE) which identifies and addresses regulatory risks that pertain to hedge fund and private equity firms. In that capacity, he coordinates with staff across the SEC headquarters and regional offices and the multiple SEC divisions to obtain and disseminate training and guidance to Inspections staff, propose and support national inspection initiatives pertaining to hedge fund and private equity firms, and also provide consultations for rule-making and investigations. He has led matters that deal with complex violations such as insider trading, market manipulation, misappropriation of assets via skimming and Ponzi schemes, misleading marketing and performance, and inadequate disclosures of compensation arrangements and conflicts of interest. He earned his BS in BioAnthropology from the University of California at Los Angeles and his MBA in Finance at Yale University School of Management, and he holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.
Alpa Patel
Alpa Patel serves as Senior Counsel in the Private Funds Branch of the Investment Adviser Regulation Office, a unit of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management in Washington, DC. The Private Funds Branch focuses on regulations affecting private fund advisers. Prior to joining the SEC, she was an associate at Dechert LLP, where she advised clients on the structuring, formation, and private offering requirements of private funds and provided counsel to investment advisers and boards of directors in regulatory, compliance, and corporate matters. Ms. Patel received a J.D. from George Washington University Law School in Washington, DC and a B.B.A. from the Goizueta Business School of Emory University in Atlanta, GA.
Igor Rozenblit
Igor A. Rozenblit joined the Asset Management Unit in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement in November 2010 as a Private Equity Fellow. Mr. Rozenblit has over ten years of private equity experience, having worked most recently as a Vice President for Credit Agricole Asset Management Capital Investors, a €2.2 billion fund-of-funds. Prior to joining Credit Agricole, Mr. Rozenblit was a Vice President of Seneca Partners, a private equity fund that focused on investments in the healthcare sector. Mr. Rozenblit started his career at Deloitte. Mr. Rozenblit holds an MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Michigan.
Barbara Burns
Barbara Burns joined AEA Investors in 2011 and is the General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and a partner in the firm. AEA Investors was founded in 1968 and manages funds that have $6 billion of invested and committed capital including the leveraged buyouts of middle market companies and small businesses and mezzanine and senior debt investing. AEA Private Equity invests across four sectors: value added industrial products, specialty chemicals, consumer products / retail and services. Before joining AEA, Ms. Burns was the head of legal coverage for Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing, the real estate private equity division of Morgan Stanley. Prior to her work at Morgan Stanley, she practiced law at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, focusing on mergers and acquisitions, securities and private equity in their New York and London offices. Ms. Burns received a B.A. in economics and international relations and a J.D., with honors, both from the University of Pennsylvania. She is admitted to the bar in New York.
James Capezzuto
James Capezzuto, who is the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Cornerstone Capital Management Holdings LLC, is responsible for all compliance and legal issues. He is also the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer of Cornerstone Capital Management LLC. Prior to joining Cornerstone Capital Management Holdings LLC (including predecessor entities) in 2012, James was an Associate Regional Director at the SEC and was responsible for the New York regional investment adviser and investment company exam programs. His previous experience includes serving as US Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Aberdeen Asset Management, Senior Counsel at UBS Global Asset Management, Chief Compliance Officer at Bank of America Alternative Strategies, Senior Counsel at Deutsche Bank/Morgan Grenfell Asset Management and Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Stienberg Priest. James graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the University of Buffalo and received his Juris Doctor degree from New York Law School.
Panel III: Registered Investment Company Topics
Steven Dittert
Steven R. Dittert is an Assistant Regional Director in the National Exam Program and is located in SEC’s Philadelphia Regional Office (PLRO). Steve is a member of a team responsible for managing the PLRO’s investment adviser and investment company examination program in the PLRO’s five-state region. He also serves as co-coordinator of the National Exam Program’s Investment Company Specialized Working Group. Previously, Steve was a Branch Chief, Team Leader, and Securities Compliance Examiner in the PLRO’s investment adviser and investment company exam program. Over his twenty-two year career, Steve has participated on and supervised examinations of investment advisers, investment companies, and mutual fund transfer agents, which identified significant concerns with investment suitability, investment allocations, advertising, fee calculations, loans from clients, valuation, fund accounting, and safety of client assets, among others. Steve received his Master of Science (Finance) degree from Drexel University and his Bachelor of Business Administration (Finance) degree from Temple University.
Douglas Scheidt
Douglas J. Scheidt is an Associate Director and Chief Counsel in the SEC’s Division of Investment Management. He was formerly, Associate Director (Compliance, Financial Analysis, Public Utility and Investment Company Regulation) and Assistant Director, Office of Enforcement Liaison, Division of Investment Management, SEC; Vice President and Associate General Counsel, The Boston Company Advisors, Inc; Attorney, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart; Special Counsel, Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; Law Clerk to the Hon. Martin D. Van Oosterhout, United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
John Farinacci
John Farinacci joined the Asset Management Unit in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement in November 2011 as a Mutual Fund Fellow. Mr. Farinacci has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry, having worked at Fidelity Investments for the last 15 years. He was the Chief Financial Officer for Fidelity Investments Institutional Services Company, Fidelity’s business segment that provides marketing, distribution, and servicing of Fidelity mutual funds to investment professionals and intermediary firms. Mr. Farinacci also spent several years leading key analysis and reporting for the Fidelity Fund Board of Trustees, primarily related to management fees, transfer agents, and 12b-1 renewals. He holds an MBA from Bentley College and a BA from the University of Massachusetts.
Renee Esfandiary
Renee Esfandiary serves as an Assistant Director in the National Exam Program in Washington, DC. She has previously served as Senior Adviser to the Co-Chiefs in the Asset Management Unit and Senior Adviser to the Managing Executive of Enforcement. Renee joined the SEC in 2003 as a staff attorney in the Office of Market Oversight in OCIE and became a Branch Chief in that group a year later. Before coming to the SEC, Renee was an Associate at McGuireWoods LLP. Renee received her JD from William and Mary School of Law and her BS from Tufts University. Renee is currently leading the distribution in guise joint initiative for the national examination program.
Charles McCain
Charlie McCain serves as the Chief Compliance Officer for Harbor Funds, an actively managed family of no-load mutual funds with net assets of approximately $84 billion. Harbor Funds utilizes a manager-of-managers approach to investing. Charlie also serves as the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer for Harbor Capital Advisors, Inc., the investment adviser to each Harbor fund, and as the Chief Compliance Officer to each of Harbor Funds Distributors, Inc., the principal underwriter for Harbor Funds, and Harbor Services Group, Inc., the transfer agent for Harbor Funds.
Prior to joining Harbor Funds and Harbor Capital Advisors in 2004, Charlie served as a Junior Partner in the investment management practice for the law firm of WilmerHale in Boston. Charlie joined WilmerHale in 1996.
Charlie has a J.D., with Distinction, from Stanford Law School, and a B.A., Summa Cum Laude, from Dartmouth College.
Victor Frye
Victor Frye joined ProShares in 2002 as Chief Compliance Officer and has more than 20 years of experience working in the financial services industry. Mr. Frye is responsible for a team of professionals who oversee all regulatory and compliance matters for both ProShares ETFs and ProFunds mutual funds trusts, as well as for ProShares and ProFunds investment advisors.
ProFunds was launched in 1997 and ProShares in 2006. Offering the nation’s largest lineup of alternative ETFs, ProShares offers over 140 alternative ETFs that cover the spectrum from strategic to tactical and from conservative to aggressive. ProFunds provides over 100 mutual funds following both classic indexed and geared alternative investment strategies.
Before joining ProShares and ProFunds, Mr. Frye was Assistant Vice President and Compliance Officer for the Calvert Group of mutual funds and its operating companies. He also served previously as a member of NASD District Committee No. 9. Mr. Frye received a bachelor’s degree with honors from Denison University, and he earned his JD from the Washington College of Law at American University. He is a member with both the Pennsylvania and District of Columbia Bar Associations.
Panel IV: Valuation Issues
Matthew O’Toole
Matthew M. O’Toole is Senior Special Counsel in the National Exam Program in the San Francisco Regional Office of the SEC, where he has worked for over twelve years. He received his B.B.A. (1986 summa cum laude) in Finance and Economics from the University of Notre Dame, and his J.D. (1991) from Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, Illinois, where he was an Associate Editor of the Law Review. Prior to rejoining the SEC, he was a Vice President and Senior Counsel with Charles Schwab, and an Assistant General Counsel at GT Global (now part of Invesco). Mr. O’Toole was also a Senior Counsel in the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) and the Division of Investment Management at the SEC in Washington, D.C., and an associate with the Washington, D.C. law firm of Arnold & Porter. He has taught securities regulation and corporate governance courses in the U.S., China and Eastern Europe, and is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco School of Law, where he won the Adjunct Professor of the Year Award in 2003.
Chiu-Wang (Leo) Chan
Chiu-Wang (Leo) Chan is a Senior Specialized Examiner in the National Exam Program in the San Francisco Regional Office of the SEC. He is experienced in securities valuation, corporate finance, and quantitative analysis. He co-leads the SEC National Exam Program’s Valuation Specialized Working Group. Prior to joining the SEC in 2011, Leo was a Senior Manager at KPMG LLP, where he valued complex financial instruments and analyzed capital structuring transactions for regulatory compliance and dispute resolution. Leo had served at KPMG’s Valuation Services Technical Committee to develop financial analytics and set internal national guidance; additionally he was a member of the OTC Derivatives Valuation Expert Working Group of the International Valuation Standards Council (IVSC) and authored valuation illustrations for financial instruments to support IFRS. Prior to working at KPMG, Leo conducted credit risk research and performed private equity M&A due diligence. Leo holds a master’s degree in Financial Engineering from the University of California Berkeley and an MBA in Operations Research and MIS from the University of California Riverside. He is a CPA Certified in Financial Forensics (CPA/CFF) by the AICPA Forensics and Valuation Section; a Certified Information Technology Professional (CPA/CITP) with expertise in data analytics and model validation; and a Chartered Mathematician (CMath) specializing in Applied Probability and Monte Carlo Simulation Methods in Finance.
Sarah ten Siethoff
Sarah G. ten Siethoff is Senior Special Counsel in the SEC’s Division of Investment Management. She assists on the development of policy and rulemaking relating to investment advisers and investment companies. Prior to joining the SEC, Ms. ten Siethoff was an associate with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP in their New York and Washington, DC offices. Ms. ten Siethoff received her J.D. from the Yale Law School. Ms. ten Siethoff received her B.A. from the University of Virginia and her M.A. in International Relations from Yale University.
Jaime Eichen
Jaime L. Eichen is the Chief Accountant for the SEC’s Division of Investment Management and has been serving in this role since June 2011. Ms. Eichen is responsible for interpreting new accounting and auditing regulations and directing the financial reporting, accounting, and auditing practices of investment companies in compliance with the federal securities laws. Ms. Eichen works closely with other Divisions and Offices within the Commission, including the Division of Enforcement and the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, where she provides accounting and auditing guidance on numerous practice issues. Ms. Eichen served for over 3 years as an Assistant Chief Accountant for the Division before assuming her current position. Ms. Eichen frequently discusses investment company accounting and auditing rules and industry practice issues at regional and national conferences.
Prior to joining the Commission in 2008, Ms. Eichen was a Senior Manager at Ernst & Young LLP, where she worked for over 9 years. At Ernst & Young, Ms. Eichen provided assurance services to asset management clients, including mutual funds, hedge funds, private equity funds, investment advisers and general partners. Ms. Eichen also worked in Ernst & Young’s National Professional Practice where she assisted in providing technical consultations to the asset management practice.
Ms. Eichen is licensed as a Certified Public Accountant in New York and received her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from Bryant College in Rhode Island.
Jeffrey Blockinger
Jeffrey C. Blockinger, is Chief Legal Officer, Chief Compliance Officer and Secretary of Och-Ziff. Prior to joining Och-Ziff in April 2005, Mr. Blockinger was with Schulte, Roth and Zabel LLP from April 2003 to April 2005, Crowell & Moring LLP from January 2002 to April 2003 and Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP from September 1996 to January 2002. Mr. Blockinger holds a B.A. in Political Science from Purdue University and a J.D. from the University of Miami School of Law. Mr. Blockinger is admitted to the bars of New York and the District of Columbia.
Panel V: Chief Compliance Officer Obligations
Mark Dowdell
Mark J. Dowdell has over 23 years of experience with the Commission. He joined the SEC in 1987 as a compliance examiner and was promoted to Branch Chief in 1994. Mark was awarded the Examination Award of Excellence from the SEC in December 1997. He left the SEC in 1998 and joined Merrill Lynch where he served as Vice President/Audit Manager in their Corporate Audit Division, and was responsible for managing and conducting audits of Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and its subsidiary companies. Mark rejoined the SEC as a Branch Chief in 2002 and currently serves as an Assistant Regional Director for the Philadelphia Regional Office within the Examination Program and serves as Co-Chair of the Marketing Sales Practices Working Group within the National Exam Program.
Janet Grossnickle
Janet M. Grossnickle is an Assistant Director (Chief Counsel’s Office – Enforcement Liaison Office) in the Division of Investment Management of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Before joining the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Ms. Grossnickle was an associate in an investment management law practice in Washington DC.
Ms. Grossnickle received her J.D. degree, summa cum laude, from Boston College Law School and her B.S. degree with distinction from the Pennsylvania State University. She is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the Virginia State Bar.
Marshall Sprung
Marshall S. Sprung is Co-Chief of the Asset Management Unit in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. He had previously served as AMU Deputy Chief and Assistant Director in the Division in the SEC’s Los Angeles Regional Office. Mr. Sprung joined the SEC in 2003 after working for five years as a litigation associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Los Angeles, and serving as a law clerk to the Honorable A. Joe Fish on the U.S. District Court in Dallas. He received his J.D. from New York University School of Law and his undergraduate degree with honors from Brown University.
Judy Werner
Judy B. Werner is the Executive Director of the National Society of Compliance Professionals (NSCP). Previously, she was the Chief Compliance Officer for Gardner Lewis Asset Management, L.P. and the Gardner Lewis Investment Trust (Chesapeake Family of Funds). Ms. Werner was with Gardner Lewis Asset Management from 1991 to 2013 and has worked in the financial services industry since 1985. While at Gardner Lewis her responsibilities included all aspects of compliance for both the investment advisory firm and the investment company. She joined Gardner Lewis soon after its formation so her experience also includes many operational aspects of the advisory business as well. Ms. Werner has been a member of the National Society of Compliance Professionals (NSCP) for nearly 15 years. She served on the NSCP Board of Directors from 2005 to 2011 and is a past Board Chair. Prior to joining NSCP, she was a member of the Investment Company Institute CCO Committee. Ms. Werner is also a founding member of the Philadelphia Compliance Roundtable. Prior to joining Gardner Lewis, she was with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. Ms. Werner received her B.A. from the University of Delaware.
Chris Marzullo
As Brandywine Global’s General Counsel & Chief Compliance Officer, Chris is responsible for overseeing and managing all legal and compliance matters within the organization. Chris joined Brandywine Global in 2007. Prior to that, he served as associate general counsel with Legg Mason, Inc., Brandywine Global's parent company, for eight years (1998-2006). In this role, he counseled Legg Mason's various investment advisory firms providing fixed income, equity, and alternative investment management services to a full range of clients. Previously, he served as a litigation associate with a prominent Baltimore law firm (1993-1998). Chris received his J. D., graduating magna cum laude, from the University of Baltimore School of Law and earned his B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.