FINRA named the CEO of regional brokerage firm Janney Montgomery Scott to its board of governors, making it the third recent major career move between Wall Street and one of its chief regulators.
Timothy Scheve was appointed by committee to complete the term of John Thiel, the former head of Merrill Lynch, who left FINRA's board earlier this year.
For his part, Scheve said he was "excited" to serve on the board and support FINRA's regulatory work.
"FINRA performs an important role not only in safeguarding the markets but also facilitating a vibrant securities industry," Scheve said in a statement.
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Gemma is a senior technology executive and business strategist with more than 20 years of experience in financial services and product development. Gemma began her career as a developer at a bulge bracket investment bank, where she gained deep expertise in building robust, scalable, and low-latency trading and risk management systems in dynamic environments. After eight years on Wall Street, she co-founded a technology startup, then expanded her expertise to insurtech and private lending before joining TheZebra.com in 2022.
Throughout her career, Gemma has been recognized for delivering high-impact technology solutions, building and scaling high-performing teams, and attracting and retaining top engineering talent.
She holds a master's degree in computer science from the University of Pennsylvania and a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College. Outside of her professional experiences, Gemma enjoys spending time with her kids, reading, and adding to her ever-expanding Lego collection.
Scheve has served as Janney's president and CEO since August 2007. His career path also includes work experience at Legg Mason, and he serves on the board of governors for industry trade group SIFMA.
"FINRA will benefit greatly from Tim's insights regarding the firms and markets we regulate as we advance our mission of investor protection and market integrity," FINRA CEO Robert Cook said in a statement.
Other notable FINRA-Wall Street
To replace Axelrod at FINRA, the regulator last week hired Bari Havlik as executive vice president for member supervision. Havlik previously served as chief compliance officer for Charles Schwab.
In a statement, Havlik said she made the move in part because of her familiarity with FINRA's operations and staff with whom she had gotten to know in her role at Schwab.
Such moves from regulator to Wall Street or the reverse have drawn criticism over the years.
"The revolving door means the cops on the beat and the perps can be confused in the blur," Bartlett Naylor, financial policy advocate for the nonprofit investor advocacy group Public Citizen, wrote in an email.
In her new job, Havlik will be responsible for leading FINRA's member regulation program, which includes surveillance and examination programs for member firms. FINRA did not make Havlik available for comment. The regulator did not respond to questions on Havlik's appointment.
"If you want true stringent regulations, a compelling argument can be made that these people shouldn't come from the securities industry," says Andrew Stoltmann of FINRA's choice of Havlik, who has spent 36 years in the industry. Stoltmann is president of the Public Investors Arbitration Bar Association, which has been critical of FINRA's operations in the past.
