Other
National Seminar Speaker Bios*
Oct. 27, 2020
Compliance Outreach Program
(For Investment Adviser and Investment Company Senior Officers)
November 19, 2020
Remarks from SEC Directors
Marc Berger
Marc P. Berger is the Deputy Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. Previously, he served as Regional Director of the New York Office from January 2018 until August 2020.
Before joining the Commission, Mr. Berger was a litigation partner at the law firm of Ropes & Gray LLP, and the Global Co-Head of that firm’s Securities and Enforcement Practice. His practice focused on white-collar criminal defense, regulatory enforcement, and internal investigations.
From 2002 to 2014, Mr. Berger served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York, including serving as Chief of that office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force. In that role, he supervised the investigation and prosecution of some of the nation’s highest profile financial and investment fraud cases, including the largest crackdown on hedge fund insider trading in U.S. history. As a prosecutor, Mr. Berger also personally investigated and tried a wide variety of cases involving securities and commodities fraud, as well as other crimes.
Mr. Berger received his bachelor’s degree with distinction from Cornell University in 1996 and earned his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 1999. Before joining the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, he served as a law clerk for the Honorable Richard M. Berman of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Dalia Osman Blass
Dalia Osman Blass is the Director of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management. The Division of Investment Management works to protect investors and to promote capital formation and innovation in investment products and services through oversight and regulation of the nation’s multi-trillion dollar investment management industry. This Division is responsible for the Commission's regulation of investment companies, variable insurance products, and federally registered investment advisers.
Ms. Blass previously served in a number of leadership roles in Division of Investment Management, most recently as Assistant Chief Counsel. Ms. Blass returned to the SEC as Director of the Division of Investment Management in September, 2017 from Ropes & Gray LLP, where she advised on a broad range of investment fund, private equity, and regulatory matters, including Exchange Traded Funds. Earlier in her career, she practiced law at O'Melveny & Myers LLP, and began her career in the London office of Shearman & Sterling LLP.
During her SEC tenure of more than a decade, Ms. Blass received the SEC's Manuel F. Cohen Award, which recognizes outstanding legal ability and performance.
Ms. Blass earned a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law, where she was Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar and Executive Editor of the Journal of Transnational Law. She received her B.A in international studies from the American University and studied political science at the American University in Cairo.
Peter Driscoll
Peter Driscoll was named Director of the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) in October 2017, after serving as Acting Director since January 2017. Before that, he served as OCIE’s first Chief Risk and Strategy Officer since March 2016, and was previously OCIE’s Managing Executive from 2013 through February 2016. He joined the Agency in 2001 as a staff attorney in Enforcement in the Chicago Regional Office and was later a Branch Chief and Assistant Regional Director in OCIE’s Investment Adviser/Investment Company examination program.
Prior to the Agency, Mr. Driscoll began his career with Ernst & Young LLP and held several accounting positions in private industry. He received his B.S. in Accounting and law degree from St. Louis University. He is licensed as a certified public accountant and is a member of the Missouri Bar Association.
Panel I: Information Security and Operational Resiliency
Kristin A. Snyder (Moderator)
Kristin Snyder is Deputy Director of the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) and is National Associate Director of OCIE’s Investment Adviser/Investment Company examination program. In this role, Ms. Snyder oversees more than 630 lawyers, accountants, and examiners responsible for inspections of SEC registered investment advisers and investment companies. Ms. Snyder also serves as the Associate Regional Director for Examinations in the SEC’s San Francisco Regional Office, where she leads the examinations program. In her position as Associate Regional Director for OCIE, Ms. Snyder leads a staff of approximately 60 accountants, examiners, attorneys and support staff responsible for the examination of broker-dealers, investment companies, investment advisers, and transfer agents across Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. Ms. Snyder previously served as a Branch Chief and a Senior Counsel in the San Francisco office’s enforcement program. Prior to joining the SEC staff, Ms. Snyder practiced with Sidley Austin Brown & Wood LLP in San Francisco. She earned her law degree from the University of California Hastings College of the Law, and received her bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Davis.
David Joire
David Joire is a Senior Special Counsel in the Chief Counsel’s Office (CCO) of the SEC’s Division of Investment Management. CCO is primarily responsible for issuing no-action letters and interpretive guidance under the Investment Company Act of 1940, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, and other federal securities laws that affect the asset management industry. CCO also reviews applications requesting exemptive orders under the two Acts. Prior to joining the SEC, Mr. Joire worked in private practice advising investment advisers and investment companies on a variety of regulatory, compliance, and transactional matters. He received his law degree from The Catholic University of America Columbus School Law, where he was a member of the Law Review, and his undergraduate degree from The George Washington University.
Michelle Kelley
As chief privacy officer, senior vice president and associate general counsel for LPL Financial, Michelle Kelley is responsible for managing the legal advice provided regarding the firm’s investment advisory and retirement platforms, privacy and data security, and state laws. As chief privacy officer, she oversees the firm’s privacy program. She is located in LPL Financial’s Boston office.
Prior to joining LPL Financial in 2006, Ms. Kelley practiced investment management law at Ropes & Gray, LLP, where she focused on investment advisor and investment company matters. Ms. Kelley received a Bachelor of Arts from Colgate University and a Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School. She is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association.
Kristina Littman
Kristina Littman is the Chief of the Division of Enforcement’s Cyber Unit, a national, specialized unit that focuses on protecting investors and markets from cyber-related misconduct. Ms. Littman joined the SEC’s Division of Enforcement in 2010 in the Philadelphia office. She has held senior attorney positions in SEC Chairman Jay Clayton’s office, the Trial Unit, and the Market Abuse Unit. Prior to joining the SEC, Ms. Littman practiced law at Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, specializing in white collar and securities litigation. Ms. Littman earned her J.D. and M.B.A. from Rutgers University School of Law – Camden and an undergraduate degree from Florida State University.
Erica Gould (Panel Administrator)
Erica Gould is an Exam Manager responsible for overseeing examinations of investment advisers, including a large portion of private fund advisers, and investment companies in the San Francisco Regional Office. She has worked in the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations since 1996. Ms. Gould received her BA in Business Administration – Accounting from the University of Washington. She is a certified fraud examiner and a certified public accountant in the state of California.
Panel II: Undisclosed Conflicts of Interest
Daniel Kahl (Moderator)
Daniel S. Kahl is Deputy Director and Chief Counsel for the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations. Formerly, Mr. Kahl was Assistant Director in charge of the Investment Adviser Regulation Office in the Division of Investment Management at the SEC. Prior to joining the Commission in 2001, Mr. Kahl worked for the Investment Adviser Association, FINRA, and the North American Securities Administrators Association. He received his B.S. from Penn State University, J.D. from Southern Methodist University, and LL.M. (Securities) from Georgetown University.< /p>
Janet Grossnickle
Janet M. Grossnickle is an Assistant Director in the SEC’s Division of Investment Management (Chief Counsel’s Office – IM Liaison Office). Before joining the SEC, 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 in Quantitative Business Analysis, with distinction, from Penn State University.
Kimberly Frederick
Kimberly L. Frederick is an Assistant Director in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, Asset Management Unit. She is located in the SEC’s Denver Regional Office. Before joining the SEC, Ms. Frederick was a litigation associate in New York and Colorado. Ms. Frederick received her J.D. degree, with high honors, from The George Washington University Law School and her B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She is a member of the Colorado and New York State Bar.
Jeannie Lewis
Jeannie Lewis is Senior Compliance Counsel at William Blair & Company, L.L.C./William Blair Investment Management, LLC. (collectively, William Blair). In her role, Ms. Lewis provides guidance regarding regulatory developments, compliance initiatives and legal advice regarding William Blair’s institutional and private wealth management lines of business. Prior to joining William Blair in 2014, she was a principal with Deloitte & Touche, LLP providing regulatory compliance, risk management, litigation support, and business advisory services to institutional and private wealth asset managers. Prior to joining Deloitte, Ms. Lewis was the assistant general counsel at Driehaus Securities LLC, a registered broker-dealer, and Driehaus Capital Management LLC, a registered investment adviser.
Ms. Lewis began her career in the Chicago Regional Office of the SEC. In her over 18 years with the SEC, she served in various capacities including assistant regional director in the Enforcement Division. During the last three years of her tenure with the SEC, Ms. Lewis served as the associate regional director of the Investment Adviser/Investment Company Examination Program.
Mark Wszolek (Panel Administrator)
Mark Wszolek is a Staff Accountant in the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations’ Atlanta Regional Office. Prior to re-joining the SEC in 2010, Mr. Wszolek worked as a Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) for a registered investment adviser in New York. Prior to accepting the CCO role, Mark worked for eight years as a Securities Compliance Examiner/Staff Accountant for OCIE’s New York Regional Office. Mr. Wszolek earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance and Economics from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Panel III: Registered Funds
Kevin Christy (Moderator)
Kevin Christy, an Exam Manager in the Chicago regional office, has worked in the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations since 2018. Mr. Christy first joined the staff of the SEC in 2012 in the Office of General Counsel (OGC). While in OGC, he advised the SEC and its staff on matters related to investment adviser and investment company regulation. Prior to his service at the SEC, Mr. Christy was a member of the investment management practice at K&L Gates in Washington, D.C., where he advised mutual funds, ETFs, their boards of directors, and investment advisers on fund governance and regulatory issues related to the federal securities laws. Mr. Christy first began his career as a senior consultant at Accenture PLC, received his B.A. in Government from Georgetown University and his law degree from the Washington College of Law at American University.
Brian Johnson
Brian McLaughlin Johnson is an Assistant Director in the Rulemaking Office in the SEC’s Division of Investment Management. Mr. Johnson heads the Division’s Investment Company Regulation Office, which is responsible for rulemaking activities under the Investment Company Act in the Division and provides advice on policy initiatives affecting the asset management industry.
Before joining the SEC in 2010, Mr. Johnson was an associate at the Washington, D.C. offices of K&L Gates and WilmerHale. Mr. Johnson received his B.A. from the University of Delaware and his J.D. from the George Mason University School of Law.
Joseph McGill
Joseph McGill is responsible for all of Lord Abbett’s compliance advice, monitoring, and testing in accordance with relevant U.S. federal and state regulatory agencies. Mr. McGill joined Lord Abbett in 2014 as the Chief Compliance Officer, and was named Partner in 2015. Prior to joining the firm, he was Managing Director and Chief Compliance Officer at UBS Global Asset Management; Vice President and Assistant General Counsel at J.P. Morgan Fleming Asset Management; Vice President at Goldman Sachs Asset Management; Vice President, Chief Compliance Officer and Counsel at J. & W. Seligman & Co. Incorporated; and Assistant General Counsel at Prudential Securities Incorporated. He started his career in the financial services industry in 1986.< /p>
Mr. McGill is a former member of the Thomson Reuters Compliance Editorial Board. He also collaborated in writing and advising sections of Aspen Publishers’ Investment Adviser’s Legal and Compliance Guide.< /p>
Mr. McGill is a speaker and presenter at various compliance forums, including the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) Outreach Program. Mr. McGill established the Investment Management Regulatory Group, and he also actively participates on several boards and committees, including the Board of Directors National Society of Compliance Professionals (NSCP); Investment Adviser Committee; Investment Company Institute Compliance Committee; and the Investment Adviser Institute Compliance Committee.
Mr. McGill earned a BA from Manhattan College and a JD from New York Law School.
Corey Schuster
Corey Schuster is an Assistant Director in the Division of Enforcement’s Asset Management Unit. He supervises investigations concerning investment advisers, including offering fraud, undisclosed conflicts, performance advertising, subadviser due diligence, compliance, and trading practices. Prior to becoming an Assistant Director, Mr. Schuster served as a staff attorney and investigated matters that included issues relating to mutual fund performance, undisclosed compensation, misappropriation of investor assets, trade allocations, CDS manipulation, insider trading, Regulation D exemptions, and unregistered broker-dealer activity.
Mr. Schuster joined the SEC from the law firms of Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP and Dickstein Shapiro LLP in Washington, D.C., where he practiced in those firms’ Securities Litigation, Regulatory, and Compliance practice groups, and he previously served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center. Mr. Schuster received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and his law degree from Vanderbilt University.
Keith Kanyan (Panel Administrator)
Keith Kanyan is a staff member of the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, National Exam Program Office. From 2008-2015, he worked in the Division of Investment Management’s Investment Adviser Regulation Office, primarily managing the Investment Adviser Registration Depository system and supporting rulemaking efforts. Mr. Kanyan’s expertise includes all aspects of investment adviser registration, Forms ADV and CRS, data and statistics related to investment advisers, and the application of rules and regulations applicable to investment advisers.
Panel IV: Hot Topics
Marshall Gandy (Moderator)
Marshall Gandy is a Senior Officer and Co-National Associate Director of the Investment Adviser/Investment Company examination program in the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations. Along with Kristin Snyder, OCIE’s Deputy Director and other Co-National Associate Director, they oversee more than 630 lawyers, accountants, and examiners responsible for inspections of SEC-registered investment advisers and investment companies. Mr. Gandy also continues to serve as the Associate Regional Director for Examinations in the SEC’s Fort Worth office where, since 2012, he has led a staff of 45 accountants, examiners, attorneys, and support personnel responsible for examining broker-dealers, investment companies, investment advisers, hedge fund managers, private equity firms, municipal advisers, and transfer agents in Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. In addition, he serves in various senior leadership roles in the SEC’s National Examination Program, including sitting on the Operating and Executive Committees. In 2014, Mr. Gandy received the SEC’s Excellence in Leadership Award from Chair Mary Jo White, and in 2020 he received the SEC’s Irving M. Pollack Award from Chairman Jay Clayton. Mr. Gandy joined the SEC’s Fort Worth office in 1999 where he spent eight years as a staff attorney and trial counsel in the Division of Enforcement before taking the role of Senior Regional Counsel in Dallas District Office of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in 2008. Mr. Gandy began his legal career in Dallas County as Criminal Court Judge and an Assistant District Attorney. He obtained his J.D. from Southern Methodist University.
Lewis Collins
Lewis Collins is a Partner in GW&K Investment Management LLC and serves as General Counsel with responsibility for managing the firm’s legal, regulatory compliance, and risk matters. Mr. Collins is a member of various Operating Committees at GW&K including the Investment, Brokerage, Cybersecurity/ Business Continuity & Disaster Recovery, Diversity & Inclusion, ESG, Proxy Voting and Valuation Committees. Prior to joining GW&K, Mr. Collins served as Senior Vice President and Senior Counsel at Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. (AMG) overseeing U.S. legal and regulatory compliance for AMG Affiliates across a broad range of areas, including investment management, employment, regulatory, real estate, and licensing. Previously he was an attorney in the corporate department of Ropes & Gray where he represented a diverse group of clients including investment management firms, mutual funds and sports organizations. Mr. Collins received his JD from the University of Michigan Law School and a BA from Williams College. He is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association and is active in investment management industry organizations, including the Investment Adviser Association.
Jennifer McHugh
Jennifer B. McHugh is a Senior Special Counsel in the Disclosure Review and Accounting Office of the Division of Investment Management at the SEC. Ms. McHugh previously served as a Senior Advisor to SEC Chair Mary Jo White from 2013-2014 and to SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro from 2009-2012. Ms. McHugh held several prior positions within the SEC’s Division of Investment Management, including Acting Director (Nov. 2010 – Feb. 2011); Senior Advisor to the Director (2001-2009; 2012-2013; 2014-2017); Special Counsel and IARD Project Coordinator (2000-2001); and Attorney (1999-2000). Ms. McHugh received the SEC’s Distinguished Service Award in 2012 and is a three-time recipient of the SEC Chairman’s Award for Excellence.
Prior to joining the SEC, Ms. McHugh was an associate with Dechert (1994-1999), representing investment companies and investment advisers in the firm’s Investment Management Practice Group. Ms. McHugh received her J.D., magna cum laude, from Catholic University in Washington, DC, where she was Lead Articles Editor of the Catholic University Law Review. Ms. McHugh received her B.A., cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana.
Jeremy Pendrey
Jeremy Pendrey is an Assistant Regional Director with the Division of Enforcement’s Asset Management Unit. The Asset Management Unit investigates and prosecutes securities laws violations by investment advisers. Mr. Pendrey supervises asset management industry investigations primarily involving firms in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. Before his over 15 years with the SEC in San Francisco, Jeremy was a litigation partner with a law firm in Los Angeles.
Merryl Hoffman (Panel Administrator)
Merry Hoffman is a Senior Regulatory Counsel for the Investment Adviser/Investment Company Examination Program at the New York Regional Office of the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations. Prior to joining the SEC in January 2016, Ms. Hoffman was Assistant General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at General Motors Asset Management and VP/Senior Counsel at OppenheimerFunds, Inc. Ms. Hoffman started her legal career as a corporate associate at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP. Ms. Hoffman is a graduate of St. John’s University School of Law (where she was a member of the St. John’s Law Review) and received her B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany, graduating from each with honors; she is currently enrolled in the Georgetown University School of Law Executive LLM Program for Securities and Financial Regulation.
Rachel Lavery (Panel Administrator)
Rachel A. Lavery is a Senior Regulatory Counsel for the Investment Adviser/Investment Company Examination Program at the New York Regional Office of the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations. Prior to joining the SEC staff in January 2015, Ms. Lavery worked as an attorney in private practice for 8 years, at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Clifford Chance US LLP, focusing on securities and white collar investigations and litigation. Ms. Lavery has a J.D. from Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law of Yeshiva University, where she was a Senior Editor on the Cardozo Law Review, and a B.A. from New York University, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.
Closing Remarks
Peter Driscoll
Peter Driscoll was named Director of the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) in October 2017, after serving as Acting Director since January 2017. Before that, he served as OCIE’s first Chief Risk and Strategy Officer since March 2016, and was previously OCIE’s Managing Executive from 2013 through February 2016. He joined the Agency in 2001 as a staff attorney in Enforcement in the Chicago Regional Office and was later a Branch Chief and Assistant Regional Director in OCIE’s Investment Adviser/Investment Company Examination Program.
Prior to the Agency, Mr. Driscoll began his career with Ernst & Young LLP and held several accounting positions in private industry. He received his B.S. in Accounting and law degree from St. Louis University. He is licensed as a certified public accountant and is a member of the Missouri Bar Association.
* Sponsored by the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, Division of Investment Management and Division of Enforcement