Lori Walsh

As the Vice President and Deputy Chief Economist, Ms. Walsh is responsible for management of national strategic and tactical initiatives by providing high quality research, analysis and advice on the economics of securities regulation and policy in support of the Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) and FINRA’s mission. The work product informs current rulemaking initiatives, reviews of existing rules and potential areas of future regulatory actions through analysis of the economic impacts of existing and potential rulemakings.

Ms. Walsh has been with FINRA since 2017. In addition to standing in for the Chief Economist in his absence, Ms. Walsh has been leading OCE’s efforts to provide strategic and tactical economic support to FINRA’s enforcement activities. Ms. Walsh is also actively involved in several advanced R&D initiatives with Technology and other business units to ensure that FINRA stays on the cutting edge of technological innovations in the financial markets. 

Previously, Ms. Walsh was the Chief of the Center for Risk and Quantitative Analytics in the Division of Enforcement at the SEC from 2013 to 2017. She joined the Division of Enforcement as the Deputy Chief of the Office of Market Intelligence in 2010 and served as the Acting Chief from 2012 to 2013. Ms. Walsh started her career in 2000 as an economist in what is currently the SEC’s Division of Economic and Risk Assessment.  

Ms. Walsh holds a B.S. in Accounting, an MBA and a Ph.D. in Finance from the Pennsylvania State University.