A Small Firm Guide to Succession Planning

August 12, 2020

FINRA Virtual Conference Panel: Succession Planning

What would your firm do in the event key personnel — including leaders, managers and registered representatives — become unable to perform their duties or unavailable due to illness, retirement or other unforeseen circumstances? A succession plan is vital to ensuring the continued success of your firm. Join FINRA staff and industry panelists as they discuss considerations for developing a succession plan that works for your business.

Moderator:

Kayte Toczylowski
Vice President and Deputy
FINRA Member Relations and Education

Speakers:

Lance Burkett
Senior Director, Risk Monitoring - Denver Office
FINRA Member Supervision

Albert Caiazzo
Managing Director, Chief Quality and Risk Officer
First Clearing, Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC

Lisa Roth
President
Tessera Capital Partners, LLC

Launch Conference Panel

A Small Firm Guide to Succession Planning Panelist Bios:

Moderator:

Kayte Toczylowski is Vice President and Deputy of Member Relations and Education for FINRA. In this role, Ms. Toczylowski's responsibilities include maintaining and enhancing open and effective dialog with FINRA member firms. Ms. Toczylowski also oversees FINRA's Member Education area, which includes FINRA conferences and other member firm educational offerings such as the FINRA Institute at Georgetown for the Certified Regulatory and Compliance Professional (CRCP)^® designation. Ms. Toczylowski has been with FINRA since 2011 and spent nine years in Member Supervision's examination program. Most recently, Ms. Toczylowski was an Examination Director located in the Philadelphia, PA office, where she led geographically dispersed exam teams responsible for planning and executing Member Supervision's examination program relative to a subset of firms engaged primarily in Capital Markets & Investment Banking Services. She entered the securities industry in 2003 in the compliance department of Janney Montgomery Scott, a regional broker-dealer headquartered in Philadelphia. The majority of her eight-year career at Janney was spent as a compliance examiner for the firm's branch network. Ms. Toczylowski has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Villanova.

Speakers:

Lance Burkett , Senior Director - Risk Monitoring, FINRA Denver Office, began his securities industry career in 1993 as a Securities Fraud Investigator for the State of Arizona Securities Division, working exclusively on fraud cases involving broker-dealers. Later, at a FINRA member firm, he was responsible for supervising Producing Branch Managers and Field Representatives as the Field Compliance Director. Throughout his tenure with FINRA, Mr. Burkett has held positions ranging from Compliance Examiner, District Director and now Senior Director - Risk Monitoring, responsible to oversee the Risk Monitoring team and coordinating with the Examination Program Management on the execution of examinations of Member firms in the retail space. Mr. Burkett earned his Certified Regulatory and Compliance Professional^™ designation through the FINRA Institute at Wharton and has developed content and presented at several FINRA Institute class offerings.

Albert Caiazzo is Managing Director and Chief Quality and Risk Officer for First Clearing, Wells Fargo Clearing Services, LLC. In his role, Mr. Caiazzo is responsible for risk management and regulatory matters, and the delivery of strategic solutions, and compliance and risk management services. Chair of the firm's Correspondent Business Review Committee, Mr. Caiazzo also sits on the First Clearing Leadership Team and the Wells Fargo Advisors Technology Oversight Committee. He previously served as Senior Vice President for Wexford Clearing Services Inc., a subsidiary of Prudential Securities Inc., a legacy firm of Wells Fargo Advisors. Mr. Caiazzo held various positions in the Prudential organization after joining that firm in 1983, including acting in the capacity of Chief Administrative Office for Wexford Clearing Services. Mr. Caiazzo is active in the industry and served as the 2012-2014 chair of the Clearing Firms Committee of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). He currently serves as the Committee Vice Chair and also represents the firm on FINRA's recently formed Clearing Firm Advisory Committee. Mr. Caiazzo currently serves on the board of directors of the St. Louis Public Schools Foundation and the Board of Directors of the Craft Alliance Center for Art and Design in St. Louis. He is a graduate of Kean University of New Jersey and the SIFMA Securities Industry Institute at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Lisa Roth is the president of Monahan & Roth, LLC, a professional consulting firm offering compliance guidance, expert witness and related services on financial and investment services topics including securities and financial services industry compliance, investment product due diligence, investor suitability, management and supervision, information security and related topics. Ms. Roth is also the President, AML Compliance Officer and Chief Information Security Officer of Tessera Capital Partners. Tessera is a limited purpose broker dealer offering new business development, financial intermediary relations, client services and marketing support to investment managers and financial services firms. Ms. Roth holds FINRA Series 7, 24, 53, 4, 65, 99 Licenses, and has served in various executive capacities with Keystone Capital Corporation, Royal Alliance Associates, First Affiliated (now Allied) Securities, and other brokerage and advisory firms. In 2003, Ms. Roth founded ComplianceMAX Financial Corp. acquired by NRS in 2007), a regulatory compliance company offering technology and consulting services to more than 1000 broker-dealers and investment advisers. Ms. Roth's leadership at ComplianceMAX led to the development of revolutionary audit and compliance workflow technologies now in use by some of the United States' largest (and smallest) broker-dealers, investment advisors and other financial services companies. Ms. Roth has been engaged as an expert witness on more than 100 occasions, including FINRA, JAMS and AAA arbitrations, Superior Court and other litigations, providing research, analysis, expert reports, damages calculations and/or testimony at deposition, hearing and trial. Ms. Roth is a member of FINRA DR's National Arbitration and Mediation Committee, and FINRA's Series 14 Item Writing Committee. Ms. Roth was unanimously selected by her peers to serve as the Chairman of FINRA's Small Firm Advisory Board for one of a total of four years of service on the Board from 2008-2012. She has also served as a member of the PCAOB Standing Advisory Group, and is an active participant in other industry forums, including speaking engagements and trade associations. Ms. Roth resides in CA, but is a native of Pennsylvania, where she attained a Bachelor of Arts Degree and was awarded the History Prize from Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA.

Resources:

FINRA Rule 4370 (Business Continuity Plans and Emergency Contact Information) does not require firms to create or implement succession plan for key personnel, but the following resources may be helpful for firms as they consider developing succession plans for their business and their staff.

FINRA Resources

North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) Resources