MFA Legal & Compliance London 2022 - Speakers
October 18, 2022
Conference
The Connaught Hotel
London, United Kingdom
Register
Stephen Berger
Managing Director, Government and Regulatory Policy, Citadel
Stephen Berger is a Managing Director and Global Head of Government & Regulatory Policy at Citadel. He leads the firm’s engagement on legislative and regulatory initiatives impacting the financial industry globally, including the Dodd-Frank Act in the United States and EMIR and MiFID II in Europe.
Mr. Berger has testified before the House Agriculture Committee on the impact of the G-20 clearing and trade execution requirements, presented before CFTC advisory committee meetings on issues including package transactions and position limits, participated in workshops at the New York Fed and Chicago Fed on CCP recovery and resolution, and spoken on panels at MFA, FIA, and ISDA conferences on topics ranging from cross-border harmonization to margin requirements for uncleared swaps.
Mr. Berger is a member of the CFTC’s Market Risk Advisory Committee, NFA’s CPO / CTA Advisory Committee, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Working Group on Financial Markets. He has served as Chair of the Managed Funds Association’s Derivatives and Swaps Committee and is an active participant in a number of MFA, AIMA, SIFMA AMG, and ISDA committees.
Prior to joining Citadel, Mr. Berger was an Executive Director at UBS Investment Bank, where he led UBS’s US financial regulatory reform team.
William Birdthistle
Director, Division of Investment Management, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
William Birdthistle is the Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Investment Management. He leads the development of policy and rulemaking relating to investment advisers and investment companies.
Prior to joining the SEC, Mr. Birdthistle joined the faculty at Chicago-Kent College of Law in 2006, and he earned the school’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 2010. He also has served as a visiting professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School, where he won the Award for Teaching Excellence in 2019 for teaching securities regulation. His research explores investment funds, securities regulation, and corporate governance, and he has served as counsel of record on multiple amicus briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Mr. Birdthistle received his J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he served as managing editor of the Harvard Law Review, and received a B.A. summa cum laude in English and psychology from Duke University in 1995.
Andrew P. Blake
Partner, Securities Enforcement and Regulatory, Sidley
ANDREW BLAKE advises a wide array of financial services clients on regulatory, transactional, compliance and enforcement matters arising under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). He is a member of Sidley’s global Securities Enforcement and Regulatory practice, which received the 2019 Chambers USA Award for Financial Services Regulation, and was named the “Law Firm of the Year” for Securities Regulation in 2020 and 2017 by U.S. News – Best Lawyers. Andrew was named a “Compliance MVP” by Law360 in 2022.
Andrew focuses his practice on the regulation of financial markets and intermediaries, including clearing organizations, transfer agents, exchanges, trading platforms, broker-dealers, futures commission merchants and private funds. He has deep experience in particular with the options markets and frequently advises clients on regulatory and operational issues regarding the clearance and settlement of equity and debt instruments, evolving regulations for swaps and security-based swaps and participation in central counterparties, depositories and trading platforms. On a regular basis, he also counsels clients on clearing arrangements, customer protection regulations, trading issues and financial contracts.
Representative engagements include:
- Options compliance and examination issues regarding the regulations of the options exchanges, FINRA and the SEC, including LOPR, position and exercise limits, give-up arrangements and exercise and assignment.
- SEC and CFTC rule changes, new derivatives products and central clearing for stock loans.
- Participant rights and obligations in the use of central counterparties, central securities depositories and exchanges.
- Security-based swap and swap regulatory issues regarding implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act by the SEC, CFTC and Federal Reserve Board.
- Clearing agreements for domestic and cross-border relationships and related matters regarding customer accounts and FINRA requirements.
- Transfer agent operations and compliance and examination issues.
- Volcker Rule trading matters regarding derivatives and related policies and procedures.
Andrew formerly served in the Division of Trading and Markets at the SEC. There, he received the Law and Policy Award for his work on implementing Titles VII and VIII of the Dodd-Frank Act regarding the regulation of swaps and enhanced supervision for payment, clearing and settlement activities. Andrew had a leading role in several rule makings, including drafting new rules for clearing agencies and derivatives end-users, and he helped supervise clearing agencies, transfer agents, exchanges, alternative trading systems and broker-dealers. Prior to the SEC, Andrew was in-house counsel at one of the largest U.S. financial complexes, where he advised on broker-dealer matters and negotiated fully disclosed clearing, prime brokerage and securities lending agreements.
Ilaria Calabresi
Head of Sustainable Investing and Stewardship, Marshall Wace
Ilaria Calabresi is the Head of Sustainable Investing and Stewardship (Office of the CIO) at Marshall Wace. Ilaria coordinates the integration of Sustainable Investing principles across Marshall Wace’s various investment Strategies. She centralises stewardship efforts and interactions with investee companies and coordinates proxy voting activities. Prior to joining Marshall Wace, Ilaria had worked at J.P. Morgan Private Bank since 2010. Ilaria was an Executive Director and the Sustainable Investing Lead for EMEA, Asia and Latin America. Previously she had been part of J.P. Morgan Private Bank’s portfolio management team for the sustainable multi-manager portfolios acting as a lead for the International Private Bank. Ilaria started her career researching renewable energy assets. Ilaria was a post graduate researcher in Finance at Imperial College Business School and earned a Double Master’s Degree cum laude with a specialization in Finance from LUISS University in Rome and Fudan University in Shanghai.
Kathleen Clapper
Managing Director, Compliance
National Futures Association
Kathleen Clapper is a Managing Director in NFA’s Compliance Department. In this role, she helps oversee the department’s examination, investigation, and financial surveillance programs. Prior to joining NFA, Ms. Clapper served as Chief Compliance Officer for R.J. O’Brien & Associates, LLC where she was responsible for leading a team of compliance professionals, administering the policies and procedures of the futures commission merchant (FCM) to ensure compliance with applicable rules and regulations, and developing strategic compliance initiatives. Ms. Clapper also spent more than 12 years at CME Group in roles supporting the exchange’s self-regulatory organization functions, including performing financial and compliance examinations of FCMs. Ms. Clapper received a Bachelor of Science in Accountancy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from DePaul University. She is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Fraud Examiner.
Tania Cruickshank
Global Head of Legal and European General Counsel, Man Group
Taggart Davis
Managing Director, Head of EU Government Affairs, Managed Funds Association
Taggart Davis serves as Managing Director, Head of EU Government Affairs at Managed Funds Association (MFA). He is responsible for the development and execution of MFA’s policy engagement strategy for Brussels and the European Union.
Prior to joining MFA, Taggart headed the J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. government relations office in Brussels for a decade and advocated on a range of policy issues, including investment management, banking, transatlantic relations and EU-UK relations. During his time with J.P. Morgan, he also served as Director and Vice Chairman of the Board of the American Chamber of Commerce to the EU (AmCham EU). He also worked in the European Parliament as a Parliamentary Assistant from 2008-2011, where he helped negotiate the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD), the Short Selling Regulation (SSR) and other EU financial legislation.
Taggart earned a B.A. in Spanish from the University of Montana and an M.A. in Comparative Politics from the University of Essex (UK).
Reggie Dodge
Chief Compliance Officer & General Counsel, Emso Asset Management
Reggie started her career in 1997 as an attorney at Anderson, Kill & Olick in New York. Reggie now focuses her practice on corporate, regulatory, governance, and ESG-related matters. Reggie is currently the chairperson of AIMA’s Sound Practices Committee and sits on the board of EMpower – The Emerging Markets Foundation. She joined Emso in 2013. Reggie earned a BA in Philosophy and a JD both from the University of Michigan, and has an MBA from London Business School.
Paul Ellis
Global Product Head - ESG, Regulation, Tax, Depositary- Securities Services, HSBC Markets & Securities Services
Paul has over 30 years’ experience providing asset servicing solutions to a broad universe of asset manager, insurance, public sector and other financial institution clients. He is Global Product Head – ESG, Regulation, Tax, Trustee & Depositary. Paul is responsible for ESG, regulatory, tax and fiduciary product solutions provided to these customer groups. He worked with KPMG, Fortis Bank, and SEI Investments prior to joining HSBC in 2003.
Jillien Flores
Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Head of Global Government Affairs
MFA
Jillien Flores serves as Executive Vice President, Managing Director, Head of Global Government Affairs at MFA.
Flores joined MFA after six years at Vanguard, one of the world’s leading asset managers. There, she advocated before Washington policymakers on a range of issues related to US capital markets, tax, and retirement policy. Leveraging policy depth, strategy, and relationships, Flores achieved policy outcomes beneficial to Vanguard’s clients on issues including equity market structure, ESG and corporate governance, and systemic risk.
Throughout her career, Flores has sought opportunities to advance Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion within the financial services sector, serving in leadership roles of related efforts at Vanguard.
Prior to joining Vanguard, Flores was Director of Government Relations at Porterfield, Lowenthal, Fettig & Sears, where she represented clients before Congress and the federal financial regulators in the asset management, insurance, securities, and biotechnology sectors. She was involved in the legislative and rule-writing process for several financial services laws and regulations, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act.
Flores earned a B.A. from the George Washington University in Washington, DC.
Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero
Commodity Futures Trading Commission
Commissioner Goldsmith Romero was sworn in as a CFTC Commissioner on March 30, 2022, after being nominated by President Joseph Biden in September 2021, and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Prior to becoming a CFTC Commissioner, Commissioner Goldsmith Romero served for a decade as the Special Inspector General for TARP (SIGTARP), a role for which she was nominated by President Barack Obama and unanimously confirmed by the Senate on March 29, 2012. In that role, she led a nationwide federal law enforcement agency and watchdog over TARP, a program where the U.S. Government became a shareholder in banks, the automotive industry and insurance industry; owned, exchanged, and traded in corporate securities and derivatives; and administered foreclosure relief for consumers.
Commissioner Goldsmith Romero also served on the staff at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. She served on the Executive Staff during the financial crisis, as counsel to SEC Chairwoman Mary Schapiro and Chairman Christopher Cox. In that role, she advised the Chairs, and served as a liaison to SEC commissioners and staff. For four years she served as senior counsel in the SEC’s Enforcement Division, where she investigated securities law violations, including related to financial institution fraud, insider trading, hedge funds, and retail investor fraud. Prior to her service at the SEC, Commissioner Goldsmith Romero served as an associate and counsel at law firms, and served a federal judicial clerkship.
Commissioner Goldsmith Romero’s leadership has protected markets, the financial system, investors and consumers. She has testified before Congress 12 times, and meets often with Congress on policy issues related to the financial system and regulation. She served on a group of inspectors general conducting oversight of the Financial Stability Oversight Council. She led SIGTARP’s investigations into bank fraud, securities fraud, violations of bank and securities laws, money laundering, corruption, mortgage fraud, and conspiracy. These investigations resulted in recoveries of more than $11 billion, criminal charges against 465 defendants, and Department of Justice, SEC, and other federal and state enforcement actions against financial institutions, corporations, and individuals. These landmark cases had lasting impact to make the financial industry safer.
Under Commissioner Goldsmith Romero’s leadership, SIGTARP was known for its unique ability to find fraud in financial institutions. SIGTARP’s investigations resulted in criminal charges against more than 100 bankers, with courts sentencing 74 bankers to prison. Commissioner Goldsmith Romero’s actions to protect markets and investors led SIGTARP to uncover fraudulent sales practices by broker dealers in mortgage-backed securities that had never been addressed by any other federal agency. These cases resulted in Department of Justice prosecutions, SEC civil enforcement actions, and widespread changes to industry sales tactics. Commissioner Goldsmith Romero has also written on, and investigated, harm to consumers. She also led investigations resulting in prison sentences for more than 100 mortgage fraudsters.
Commissioner Goldsmith Romero has received national recognition for her work. She has written extensively on issues related to the financial system, including on systemic risk, the interconnected nature of the financial system, Too Big to Fail, capital, lending, and market issues. Her work and publications have received substantial media coverage by ABC, NBC, USA Today, The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Financial Times, Reuters, Forbes, Bloomberg, The Washington Post, The Washington Examiner, Politico, CNBC, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, American Banker, NPR, The Guardian, The International Business Times, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Examiner, The Charlotte Observer, and many other local and trade news outlets.
Commissioner Goldsmith Romero lives in Virginia with her wife, and is an empty-nester to three adult daughters.
Jennifer Han
Executive Vice President, Chief Counsel, Head of Global Regulatory Affairs
MFA
Jennifer Han serves as Associate General Counsel at Managed Funds Association (MFA). In her position, she advocates and shapes legislative and regulatory policies affecting the alternative investment industry in the U.S., Europe and Asia. She advises on, develops and implements strategies for MFA members in seeking legal, regulatory and compliance changes and/or guidance for investment advisers, commodity trading advisors and commodity pool operators. She has extensive experience working with policy makers and regulators, such as throughout the financial crisis, post-crisis and to refinement of today’s regulatory framework. She works regularly with legislative policy makers and regulators, including the SEC, CFTC, Department of Treasury, Federal Reserve, NFA, ESMA, UK FCA and IOSCO, among many others.
As background, MFA represents the global alternative investment industry and its investors by advocating for sound industry practices and public policies that foster efficient, transparent, and fair capital markets. MFA, based in Washington, DC, is an advocacy, education, and communications organization established to enable hedge fund and managed futures firms in the alternative investment industry to participate in public policy discourse, share best practices and learn from peers, and communicate the industry’s contributions to the global economy. MFA members help pension plans, university endowments, charitable organizations, qualified individuals and other institutional investors to diversify their investments, manage risk, and generate attractive returns over time. MFA has cultivated a global membership and actively engages with regulators and policy makers in Asia, Europe, the Americas, Australia and many other regions where MFA members are market participants.
Prior to joining MFA, Jennifer was a staff attorney in the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations at the SEC, where she conducted inspections and examinations, and advised on legal and compliance matters relating to developments in securities regulations and industry practices. Jennifer began her legal career as an associate with Pickard and Djinis LLP, a boutique securities law firm in Washington, D.C. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University and her Juris Doctor from American University. While in law school, she was an Editor of the American University International Law Review. Jennifer is a member in good standing of the Virginia bar.
Chris Hayward
Policy Chairman, City of London Corporation
Christopher Leonard
Assistant GC, Head of European Legal and Compliance, Elliott Investment Management
Christopher is Assistant General Counsel and Head of European Legal and Compliance at Elliott Investment Management. Prior to joining Elliott in early 2017, Christopher was a partner at Akin Gump where he co-led the UK/EU financial regulatory group. Christopher began his legal career at Allen & Overy at some point prior to the turn of the millennium and is a graduate of the London School of Economics.
Stephanie Maier
Global Head of Sustainable and Impact Investment, GAM Investments
Stephanie Maier is Global Head of Sustainable and Impact Investment, responsible for leading GAM’s sustainable and ESG (environmental, social and governance) strategy.
Stephanie joined GAM Investments in January 2021 from HSBC Global Asset Management, where she was Director for Responsible Investment. Prior to that, she spent seven years at Aviva Investors, latterly as Head of Responsible Investment Strategy and Research, and was formerly Head of Research for EIRIS, an ESG research and consultancy firm. Stephanie holds an MSc in Environmental Technology from Imperial College London, a BA in Biological Sciences from Oxford University and the Investment Management Certificate (IMC).
Anna Maleva-Otto
Partner, Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP
Anna Maleva-Otto concentrates her practice on a range of UK financial services regulatory matters, including the impact of EU directives and regulations. She advises on all aspects of the establishment and operation of FCA-regulated businesses in the United Kingdom, as well as trading on UK and EU markets. Anna frequently participates in industry working groups in connection with new and emerging regulatory initiatives, and has advised asset managers on several key pieces of recent EU legislation (including GDPR, Short Selling Regulation, AIFMD, MiFID II, MAR, EMIR, SFTR and Securitisation Regulation). Anna also frequently assists clients with the design of their compliance policies and procedures, internal investigations and staff training.
Anna is listed in The Legal 500 UK as a “Leading Individual” in Investment Fund Formation and Management — Hedge Funds and a “Recommended” lawyer in Financial Services: Non-Contentious Regulatory. An interviewee described her as “excellent — highly responsive, well informed and pragmatic in her advice, and a pleasure to work with.” She has also been named among the world’s “50 Leading Women in Hedge Funds” by The Hedge Fund Journal. Anna frequently speaks and writes on topics related to her areas of expertise. For the past three years, Anna has co-authored the UK chapter in the Chambers Alternative Funds Guide — a guide examining key industry trends and regulatory and tax matters impacting funds, managers and investors. Anna has also worked with AIMA to produce MiFID2 — A Guide for Investment Managers and authored the “Insider Trading Law in the United Kingdom” chapter in the Insider Trading Law and Compliance Answer Book (Practising Law Institute). Her recent speaking engagements have addressed topics such as market abuse, insider dealing, best practices for electronic communications and MiFID II. Anna is admitted to practice in England and Wales, and New York.
Maryellen Maurer
Senior Securities Compliance Examiner, Division of Examinations – Private Funds Unit, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Jon May
General Counsel and Partner, Marshall Wace
Jon May is General Counsel and Global Head of Legal and Compliance at Marshall Wace, with responsibility for all legal and compliance matters relating to the Marshall Wace group and its funds. Jon joined Marshall Wace in 2005 and was made a partner of the firm in 2010.
Prior to joining Marshall Wace, Jon worked at Man Investments as a Manager within the Product Structuring team. From 1999 to 2004, Jon worked at Simmons & Simmons, qualifying as a solicitor in the Financial Services group in 2001, where he specialised in the establishment of hedge funds and the provision of regulatory advice to investment managers. Jon holds a BA (Hons) in Law from St John’s College, Cambridge.
Jon is a Director and Committee Member of the Financial Markets Law Committee and is a Global Director of AIMA.
Jason Mitchell
Head of Responsible Investment Research, Man Group
Jason Mitchell is Head of Responsible Investment Research at Man Group and co-chairs Man Group’s Stewardship Committee. Previously, Jason was Co-Head of Responsible Investment at
Man Group.
Jason worked at Man GLG from 2004 to 2008 as a portfolio manager. Between 2008 to 2010, he advised the UK government on infrastructure development across Sub-Saharan Africa. He returned to Man GLG in 2010 as a portfolio manager, before becoming a sustainability strategist across Man Group in 2017. Prior to Man GLG, he was a Vice President at Andor Capital Management and an investment research analyst with Pequot Capital Management.
Besides having managed environmental and sustainability strategies, he speaks and publishes widely on responsible investment. Jason’s articles and comments on sustainable investing have been quoted in a number of top-tier publications, including Institutional Investor, Wall Street Journal, CNBC Squawk Box, Responsible Investor, Aftenposten, Global Times, AIMA Journal and Investment Europe. He has written widely on the European refugee migrant crisis. He also hosts the award-winning podcast series, A Sustainable Future.
Jason serves on the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Investment Committee, SASB (Sustainable Accounting Standards Board) Investor Advisory Group, the CFA Institute’s ESG Technical Committee, the World Bank Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition (CPLC) Advisory Group and the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) Academic Advisory Committee. He previously served on the EFRAG (European Financial Reporting Advisory Group) Lab Steering Group and chaired the PRI Hedge Funds Advisory Committee. He is a contributing author to: CFA UK’s Certificate in ESG Investing Textbook (Ed. 2 & 3, 2021); Responsible Investing: A Guide to Environmental, Social, and Governance Investments (Routledge: 2018); Sustainable Investing: Revolutions in Theory and Practice (Routledge: 2017) and Evolutions in Sustainable Investing: Strategies, Funds and Thought Leadership (Wiley Finance: 2012).
Jason holds a MSc in International Political Economy from the London School of Economics and a bachelor’s degree in English literature and classics. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and the British-American Project. He was named one of Institutional Investor’s 2011 Hedge Fund Rising Stars and one of the 50 most influential people in sustainable finance by Financial News in 2022.
Jane Moore
Department Head of Market Analysis, Policy and Strategy, Payments and Digital Assets, Financial Conduct Authority
Barbara Niederkofler
Partner, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Barbara Niederkofler represents some of the most prominent private equity and hedge fund sponsors, as well as a broad range of other investment clients, including credit funds, hybrid funds, family offices and institutional investors.
Barbara’s practice focuses on the formation and operations of private investment funds along the liquidity spectrum, including:
- Structuring funds and managers in multiple jurisdictions.
- Providing guidance on fundraising and solicitation issues.
- Advising on seed arrangements, spinouts, joint ventures and “upper tier” arrangements.
- Handling registrations and exemptive filing under securities and commodities laws with regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the National Futures Association (NFA).
- Advising on ongoing maintenance of fund structures as well as compliance issues for managers.
Barbara has substantial experience with all aspects of investment adviser compliance and registrations. She has extensive experience in relation to the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, and she also regularly advises clients with respect to regulatory examinations and investigations.
Allison Scher Bernbach
Partner, Schulte Roth & Zabel
Allison Scher Bernbach focuses her practice on counseling private fund advisers in navigating the increasingly complex regulatory landscape, including compliance with the requirements of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Allison regularly counsels private fund advisers with SEC registration, structuring their compliance programs, complex regulatory matters, SEC examinations, and advice in connection with the structuring of acquisitions of other investment managers.
Allison has more than 25 years of regulatory compliance experience servicing global, multi-strategy asset management firms, including more than 15 years of experience advising private equity sponsors, both as outside counsel and in-house.
Publications
• “SEC Division of Examinations Releases 2024 Examination Priorities – What Private Fund Managers Should Know,” Schulte Alert, Oct. 31, 2023
• “SEC Enforcement Action Scrutinizes Substantive Details of Level-3 Valuation Policies and Procedures,” Hedge Fund Law Report, June 29, 2023 (quoted)
• “SEC Marketing Rule Update: Additional Focus Areas in Examinations,” SRZ Alert, June 23, 2023
• “SEC Form PF Reporting Changes Effective Dec. 11, 2023, and June 11, 2024,” SRZ Alert, June 21, 2023
• “SEC’s Proposed Safeguarding Rule: Concerns About the Scope and Specific Items for Closed-End Fund Managers to Monitor (Part Two of Two),” Private Equity Law Report, April 6, 2023 (quoted)
• “United States Fundraising,” The Private Equity Review (Law Business Research Ltd.), 2023 (co-author)
• “The SEC’s Staff Issues a New Marketing Rule FAQ on Net Performance Requirements,” SRZ Alert, Jan. 18, 2023
• “SEC Proposes Service Provider Oversight Regime for Investment Advisers,” SRZ Alert, Nov. 11, 2022
• “Don’t Take Chances When it Comes to Pay-to-Play,” Private Funds CFO, Oct. 6, 2022 (quoted)
• “SEC Pay-to-Play Rule Update: Recent SEC Enforcement Activity and What It Means for the November Midterms,” SRZ Alert, Sept. 21, 2022
• “SEC Marketing Rule Update: What Private Fund Advisers Should Be Thinking About as the November 4 Compliance Date Approaches,” SRZ Alert, Sept. 20, 2022
• “SEC Custody Rule Update: Takeaways from Recent Enforcement,” SRZ Alert, Sept. 19, 2022
Speaking Engagements
• “Marketing Rule Update,” SRZ 32nd Annual Private Investment Funds Seminar, January 2023
• Moderator, “Preparing for Regulatory Examinations,” MFA Legal & Compliance London, October 2022
Memberships
• New York City Bar Association
• Private Investment Funds Committee
Prior Experience
• Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
• CCMP Capital Advisors, LLC
• Oak Hill Capital Management
• Fischer Frances Trees and Watts
• Alliance Capital Management
• Seward & Kissel LLP
Bar Admissions
• New York
Education
• New York University School of Law, J.D., 1996
• Binghamton University, State University of New York, B.A., 1993
Stephanie Shepard Cobb
Head of Compliance, EMEA, Millennium
Stephanie is the Head of Compliance, EMEA for Millennium Capital Partners. Prior to joining Millennium in 2019, Stephanie was the Head of European Compliance at Ares Management. Before joining Ares, she held General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer roles at other asset managers. Prior to that Stephanie was Counsel at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer in their London and Amsterdam offices. She began her career in private practice in the United States.
Stephanie holds a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and a B.S. with a joint degree in finance and marketing from the University of Virginia McIntire School of Commerce. She serves as a Trustee of the London Children’s Ballet, a member of the McIntire School of Commerce Global Advisory Board and a member of the University of Virginia European Regional Board.
Rachpal Thind
Partner, Sidley
Rachpal’s clients turn to her for advice on complex UK and EU regulatory and compliance matters, in particular those relating to cross-border issues. She has for many years counseled overseas banks, investment management firms, insurance companies and consumer credit firms on UK authorization and licensing requirements, as well as on EU/UK anti-money laundering and financial sanctions compliance matters. When clients interact with regulatory agencies, Rachpal provides technical and strategic support on regulatory investigations and breaches.
Rachpal also has extensive experience of advising arrangers, issuers, originators, investment managers and investors on the regulatory aspects of structured finance and capital market transactions covering the Securitization Regulation, regulatory capital requirements, marketing and listing requirements, and market conduct issues within the context of the Market Abuse Regulation.
Rachpal’s practice also encompasses advising purchasers and sellers of regulated loan portfolios on EU and UK regulatory requirements relating to residential and buy-to-let mortgages, personal secured and unsecured loans, consumer hire goods and services, and credit cards. She has also assisted banks and finance and leasing companies on the development of new products and advising on preparing customer documentation in compliance with the Consumer Credit Act 1974 and the Financial Conduct Authority’s mortgage and consumer credit conduct of business rules.
Rachpal is recognized in The Legal 500 UK 2022 for both Financial Services: Non-Contentious/Regulatory and Regulatory Investigations and Corporate Crime (advice to corporates). In the 2017 edition, sources note that she “provides ‘very thorough advice’ to clients.”
William Wright
Chief Executive Officer, New Financial
Coralie Yeo
EMEA Head of Prime Brokerage Consulting, Bank of America Securities
Coralie Yeo is the EMEA Head of Business Consulting within Prime Brokerage at Bank of America Securities. She and her team partner with a broad range of hedge fund managers, from start-up boutiques to large global alternatives groups, in an advisory capacity on various strategic projects & initiatives.
Beyond her primary role in Prime Brokerage, Coralie also spearheads BofA’s ESG strategic advisory efforts for Equities in EMEA. She is a member of multiple regional & global ESG committees at BofA which focus on the Bank’s sustainable finance commitments to help identify and drive initiatives from policy & research, to the deployment of capital, client advisory engagements and product development.
Coralie joined BofA in 2016, prior to this she worked within the Equity Prime Brokerage division at Morgan Stanley where she joined on the sales & trading graduate scheme in 2012. Coralie holds a first class honours degree in Economics from the University of Bath.
Ezra Zahabi
Partner, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
Key Experience:
- Focuses her practice on financial regulatory matters relevant to the investment management and funds industry.
- Advising a major technology investment fund on start-up issues, including internal controls and information handling protocols, and conducting market abuse and compliance training for staff. We also provided advice in relation to market abuse requirements and trade issues.
- Advising a US VC investment manager on “appointed representative” arrangements.
- Advising a large PE manager with establishing UK operations, including FCA authorisation application.
- Advising the K. office of a global investment manager on the Senior Managers and Certification Regime (SMCR) implementation process
Practice:
Ezra Zahabi advises on relevant developments and considerations regarding changes to the U.K. and EU financial regulatory framework, particularly with regard to:
- The U.K. financial services regulatory framework, including the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, the rules of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulatory Authority (PRA).
- The EU legislative and regulatory framework, including the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive and the related Regulation (MiFID II); the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD); the Market Abuse Regulation; the Short Selling Regulation and the European Markets and Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR).
- Structuring and promotion of sustainable funds, and the application of the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) and the Taxonomy Regulation.
Ezra counsels investment management clients (including credit, hedge fund and private equity managers) on a variety of matters, including:
- Senior Managers and Certification
- Remuneration Code
- Strategic advice in connection with new or forthcoming regulatory
- Market abuse and market
- Marketing and distribution of funds, managed accounts and
- Interactions with regulatory authorities, including regulatory applications and notifications.
- Structuring of investment management and advisory
Ezra participates in industry associations including the Sustainable Investment and Investment Management Sub-Committees of the Financial Markets Law Committee (a committee of the Bank of England) and the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) working groups. She provides client training on regulatory and legal matters, including market abuse.
Representative Work:
- Advice on FCA authorization
- SMCR implementation for investment
- Advice to issuers and market participants on insider dealing
- Advice on post-Brexit marketing considerations for UK and other non-EU investment managers/advisors.
Dr. Haoxiang Zhu
Director, Division of Trading and Markets, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Contact
Registration for this event is by invitation only. To request an invitation, please email conferences@managedfunds.org
