FINRA Board of Governors Appoints Sam Deshpande as Newest Governor

WASHINGTON – The FINRA Board of Governors has appointed Sam Deshpande as a new public Governor. Deshpande is Chief Information Officer for Humana, a U.S. health insurance company. His term on the FINRA Board begins immediately, and he will join the Board at its upcoming Board of Governors meeting on July 21-22.

Deshpande became Humana’s CIO in July 2021, and is responsible for managing all of Humana’s technology systems and infrastructure. Prior, he was the organization’s Chief Technology and Risk Officer, responsible for managing risk and compliance across the organization and for setting Humana’s technology vision and delivering all technology services, including analytics, mobile and legacy development, as well as infrastructure management. Deshpande joined Humana in July 2017.

Prior to his work at Humana, Deshpande spent 17 years at Capital One in key leadership positions, most recently as Business Chief Risk Officer for the U.S. and international card businesses. He previously served as the Business Chief Risk Officer and Head of Enterprise Services for the Financial Services Division, responsible for business risk, data science, data quality, process excellence and project management. Prior to working at Capital One, Deshpande worked for Accenture and Booz Allen & Hamilton, leading client engagements for Fortune 500 companies in the consumer, high-tech, automotive and aerospace industries.

Deshpande has an MBA with high honors from the University of Chicago; a master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering from Virginia Tech; and a bachelor’s degree with honors from the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur, India.

“Sam brings exceptional leadership experience in a wide range of disciplines crucial to the success of FINRA and our industry.” said FINRA Chairperson Eileen Murray. “We are delighted to have Sam join the FINRA Board.”

“Sam has demonstrated leadership across a breadth of roles and industries, including highly regulated sectors and businesses that leverage sophisticated, cloud-based technology systems," said FINRA CEO Robert Cook. “We look forward to his contributions toward FINRA’s mission of investor protection and market integrity.”

“I am delighted to join my esteemed colleagues on the FINRA Board of Governors and to working alongside them to perform such an important role for investors, the securities industry and financial markets,” said Deshpande.

FINRA is overseen by a 23-member Board of Governors, the majority of whom are public—that is, outside the securities industry—members. The industry governors include three from large firms, one from medium-size firms, three from small firms, one floor member, one independent dealer/insurance affiliate and one investment company affiliate. FINRA Governors are appointed or elected to three-year terms and may not serve more than two consecutive terms.

More information regarding the Board's operations, including the membership and responsibilities of its committees, is available at www.finra.org/governance.

About FINRA
FINRA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to investor protection and market integrity. It regulates one critical part of the securities industry—brokerage firms doing business with the public in the United States. FINRA, overseen by the SEC, writes rules, examines for and enforces compliance with FINRA rules and federal securities laws, registers broker-dealer personnel and offers them education and training, and informs the investing public. In addition, FINRA provides surveillance and other regulatory services for equities and options markets, as well as trade reporting and other industry utilities. FINRA also administers a dispute resolution forum for investors and brokerage firms and their registered employees. For more information, visit www.finra.org.