Ask the Regulator and Industry Experts Thursday, September 14 3:30 p.m. 4:30 p.m. During this session, panelists answer your questions related to the fixed income regulatory landscape. Panelists also address questions related to effective practices, implication of new and pending rules, and other important issues. Moderator: Cynthia Friedlander Director FINRA Fixed Income Regulation Panelists: Bonnie Bowes Associate Director FINRA Fixed Income Regulation Kristin Maher Managing Director, Head of Fixed Income Services Wells Fargo Advisors Justin Pica Senior Policy Advisor, Division of Trading and Markets U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Michael Post General Counsel Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) Thomas Vales Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Chief Compliance Officer TMC Bonds, L.L.C 2017 Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. All rights reserved. 1
Ask the Regulator and Industry Experts Panelist Bios: Moderator: Cynthia Friedlander is Director of Fixed Income Regulation within FINRA Regulatory Operations. Ms. Friedlander is responsible for directing FINRA s policies and national programs related to fixed income securities, including related regulatory matters in FINRA District Offices. Specifically, she is responsible for the design, development and delivery of fixed income policy guidance to staff throughout FINRA, as well as to member firms, and is one of FINRA s primary representatives in fixed income regulatory matters with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Ms. Friedlander represents FINRA at government agency, SRO, and industry and advisory meetings and is a staff liaison to FINRA s Fixed Income Committee. She holds a bachelor s degree in government from the University of Virginia and an M.B.A. with a concentration in finance from George Mason University. Panelists: Bonnie Bowes is Associate Director of Fixed Income Regulation within FINRA Member Regulation. Ms. Bowes drives key FINRA fixed income initiatives in municipal, corporate and government securities and securitized products. She focuses on the policy and examination implications of current fixed income regulatory matters in order to provide guidance to FINRA staff and member firms. Prior to joining FINRA in 2013, her career encompassed leadership roles in fixed income compliance, operations, product management and credit risk. Ms. Bowes has worked at top-tier wealth management and capital markets broker-dealers, an alternative trading system (ATS) and the Depository Trust and Clearing Corp. (DTCC). She holds a bachelor s degree in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Rochester. Kristin Maher is Managing Director at Wells Fargo Advisors, and is the Head of Fixed Income Services in Capital Markets Trading. Her responsibilities include the Fixed Income Trading Liaison and Marketing teams, Fixed Income Advisory Trading, High Net Worth Portfolio Services, and Syndicate Product Distribution. The liaison team serves as the interface for Financial Advisors fixed income inquiries across various distribution channels. Her team's responsibilities include fixed income trade execution, marketing of the fixed income products, the communication of current market conditions, distribution and execution of syndicate products in both fixed income and equity transactions. Ms. Maher is a 27 year veteran of Wells Fargo and its legacy organizations. In addition to her leadership role as Head of Fixed Income Services, Ms. Maher is a member of the WFA Senior Leadership Forum, WFA Capital Markets Best Execution Committee and a participant in the WFA Deal Commitment Committee. Ms. Maher holds a MBA in finance from Pace University and a BS in Finance from Villanova University. Ms. Maher holds professional certificates from the Washington University Olin Business School Women s Leadership Forum and the Wharton School s Securities Industry Institute Program. Ms. Maher is series 3, 7, 24, 53 and 63 registered. Justin Pica is Senior Policy Advisor in the Division of Trading and Markets at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), where he primarily focuses on fixed-income market structure and transparency issues, and implementation of security-based swaps transparency. Prior to joining the SEC, Mr. Pica directed strategic planning and policy for market transparency programs at the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB). Mr. Pica also managed MSRB rulemaking and policy support for uniform practice rules relating to clearance and settlement, customer confirmations and new issue requirements. Mr. Pica received his bachelor s of science degree from Fordham University and a master s of business administration degree from George Washington University. Michael L. Post is General Counsel of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB), where he is a legal and policy advisor to the MSRB and its Board of Directors. He oversees Board governance, rulemaking for municipal securities dealers and municipal advisors, regulatory relationships and legislative affairs. Prior to joining the MSRB in 2013, Mr. Post served for more than 10 years in various senior roles at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. From 2007 to 2009, he was counsel to Chairman Christopher Cox, assisting with the development and implementation of an agency-wide regulatory agenda. In that capacity, Mr. Post advised on a broad range of legal, policy and management issues arising primarily out of the Divisions of Trading and Markets and Enforcement as well as the Office of the General Counsel and Office of Municipal Securities. Mr. Post also served as a senior appellate 2017 Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. All rights reserved. 2
litigator in the SEC Office of the General Counsel, representing the SEC in the Circuit Courts of Appeals and U.S. Supreme Court in matters arising out of rulemakings, enforcement actions and adjudications as well as the SEC s amicus curiae program. He is a recipient of the Manuel F. Cohen Outstanding SEC Younger Lawyer Award. Earlier in his career, he was a member of the Supreme Court and Appellate Litigation Group at Sidley Austin LLP, and a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Mr. Post earned a bachelor s degree in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a juris doctor, with high honors, from the George Washington University Law School, where he was a senior editor of the Law Review. Thomas S. Vales, Chief Executive Officer for TMC Bonds (TMC), brings more than 28 years of fixed income experience to the firm. In May of 2000, Mr. Vales started the company with backing from industry leaders including Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and Assured Guaranty. The company has grown to become a market leader for electronic bond trading with over 1,000 firms participating on the trading platform. TMC has evolved from its original municipal bond exchange into a robust marketplace for trading fixed income products. The firm currently supports secondary transactions in Municipal, Corporate, MBS, Agency, and CD trading in addition to primary market coverage in Municipals, Medium Term Notes, Structured Products, and CD s. TMC overlays its marketplace with software designed to assist both traders and brokers with the decision making process for buying and selling fixed income product. TMC s Private Label Service supports a number of the industry s leaders in such diverse categories as Clearing Services, Independent Brokerage, Wirehouses, Banks, and Regional Dealers. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Vales spent ten years with Bankers Trust where he was a Managing Director of the Relative Value Arbitrage Group and Senior Manager of the Tax-Advantaged Arbitrage desk. From 1989 to 1996, he worked as a Vice President at BT Securities in municipal trading, sales, and derivatives. Mr. Vales graduated in 1986 from the University of Vermont with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. Mr. Vales serves on the FINRA Fixed Income Steering Committee. 2017 Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. All rights reserved. 3
2017 Fixed Income Conference September 14 Dallas, TX Ask the Regulator and Industry Experts
Panelists Moderator Cindy Friedlander, Director, FINRA Fixed Income Regulation Panelists Bonnie Bowes, Associate Director, FINRA Fixed Income Regulation Kristin Maher, Managing Director, Head of Fixed Income Services, Wells Fargo Advisors Justin Pica, Senior Policy Advisor, Division of Trading and Markets, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Michael Post, General Counsel, Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) Thomas Vales, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Chief Compliance Officer, TMC Bonds, L.L.C FINRA Fixed Income Conference 2017 FINRA. All rights reserved. 1