It’s election season. And now firms will have another contest to keep an eye on this year: FINRA’s election of governors.
At a salient moment in the regulator’s history, members will vote to fill three spots on its de facto board of directors. While FINRA does not comment on what issues the board will address before official agendas are published, the elections come on the heels of some major announcements including the
Having finalized the selection process, FINRA has narrowed it down to five candidates who will vie for one small firm seat, one mid-sized firm seat and one large firm seat.
Three candidates have successfully completed the petition process and made it to the ballot representing the 4,095 FINRA-member small firms which employ 150 or fewer registered individuals. Kevin Carreno, Stephen Kohn and Dock David Treece will compete for the small firm spot.
Kevin Carreno, general counsel at International Assets Advisory, has 25 years of experience including in house practice and representation of several brokerage firms in FINRA enforcement proceedings.
Stephen Kohn is the president and CEO of Stephan A. Kohn & Associates, a full-service independent FINRA member firm, and is also president of the Independent Broker-Dealer Association.
Dock David Treece comes from Treece Financial Services where he holds the positions of vice president and chief compliance officer.
In the mid-size firm class, which includes 218 firms with between 151 and 499 registered employees, FINRA’s nominating committee has tapped W. Dennis Ferguson who will run unopposed. Ferguson is the executive vice president and director of clearing for Sterne, Agee & Leach, Inc.
Also unopposed and nominated by the committee, Seth Waugh runs on behalf of the 169 registered large firms which have 500 or more registered employees. Waugh has been CEO of Deutsche Bank Americas since 2002.
The addition of three new members will fill the board to capacity at 25 total representatives.
Those elected as governors will serve three year terms and must remain in their size classification for the duration.
Voting is slated to take place at the annual meeting of firms on Aug. 13, in Washington, D.C. FINRA has sent out a notice and a proxy to firms that have been members as of July 6 and are eligible to vote. Firms may only vote in the division of their respective size.
