Fireside Chat with Richard Best,
Director, Division of Examinations, SEC
Joined by
Peter Driscoll, Partner, PwC and
Kristin Snyder, Partner, Debevoise & Plimpton
(formerly SEC Examinations)
Moderated by Jennifer Klass, Partner, Baker & McKenzie
followed by
The Breakdown Discussion
with panelists:
Jim Anderson, Partner, Willkie Farr & Gallagher
Matt Calabro, Executive Director, Compliance Services, CSS, a Confluence
company
Key topics will include:
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Richard R. Best
Richard Best is the Director of the Division of Examinations of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. He became Director in May 2022, after having served as its Acting Director since March 2022. He was previously the Regional Director of the Salt Lake Regional Office, serving from July 2015 to February 2018, Regional Director of the Atlanta Regional Office, serving from February 2018 to September 2020, and Regional Director of the New York Regional Office serving from September 2020 to March 2022.
Before coming to the Commission, Mr. Best was a Chief Counsel in the Department of Enforcement of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Mr. Best was also a Director, Senior Trial Attorney and Trial Attorney at FINRA.
Mr. Best previously worked as an Assistant District Attorney in the Office of the Bronx County District Attorney. He was a supervisor in the Office’s Rackets Bureau where he managed high-profile public integrity and organized crime prosecutions, among other matters.
Mr. Best received his bachelor’s degree from the State University of New York, College at Old Westbury, and a law degree from the Howard University School of Law.
Peter Driscoll
Pete Driscoll joined PwC in the National Quality Organization (NQO) in Washington, DC in September 2021. Although Pete is based in the NQO, he serves clients in the Financial Services Sector.
As a partner, Pete brings to clients his vast expertise at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including examinations of investment advisers, private funds, mutual funds, broker-dealers, and other market intermediaries. He also adds expertise in operational excellence, as he teams with others throughout NQO and the Firm to promote standardization, centralization, and automation of aspects of PwC’s broker-dealer audit and attestation work.
Prior to joining PwC, Pete was the Director of the Division of Examinations (formerly the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations) at the SEC, where he led a team of over 1,000 accountants, attorneys, securities compliance examiners, and quantitative analysts responsible for overseeing SEC-registered participants in the financial markets. Pete spent approximately 20 years at the SEC gaining key exposure to market events and related risks, while establishing relationships and credibility at the SEC and across the marketplace, including with members of the compliance, risk, legal and accounting professions.
Pete holds a J.D. and a B.S. in Business Administration with a major in Accounting from St. Louis University. Pete is licensed to practice as a CPA and attorney in the state of Missouri.
Kristin Snyder
Kristin Snyder is a litigation partner and member of Debevoise & Plimpton’s White Collar & Regulatory Defense Group based in the firm’s San Francisco office. Her practice focuses on securities-related regulatory and enforcement matters, particularly for private fund advisers and other asset managers.
Prior to her role at Debevoise, Ms. Snyder served at the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) for 18 years, most recently serving as the Deputy Director of the Division of Examinations resident in the SEC’s San Francisco Regional Office. In her role, she spearheaded the development of examination priorities for the national and international examination programs covering a spectrum of SEC registrants including investment advisers, investment companies, and broker-dealers.
At the Commission, she also served as National Associate Director of the Investment Adviser/Investment Company (IAIC) Examination Program, and as the San Francisco Regional Office’s Associate Director for Examinations. In these roles and her Deputy Director role, she oversaw more than 1,000 employees in the Division of Examinations, directed the SEC’s Private Funds Unit, a specialized group within the exam program that has conducted hundreds of examinations of many of the largest and most complex private funds managers in the world, and managed referrals of examination findings from the Division of Examinations to the Division of Enforcement. She also led the SEC’s National Examination Program Office for the IAIC Examination Program, which develops priorities and initiatives covering investment advisers, including private fund managers, and investment companies.
Before her position in the Division of Examinations, Ms. Snyder served for eight years in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement as a branch chief and as senior counsel in the SEC’s San Francisco office, and prior to that was a litigation associate at two major Bay Area law firms.
Ms. Snyder received her J.D. with honors from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1996 and her B.A. from the University of California, Davis in 1992.
Jennifer L. Klass
Jennifer L. Klass serves as the co-chair of Baker McKenzie's North America Financial Regulation and Enforcement Practice, which provides clients with a full range of regulatory advice and enforcement counseling. Jen is an experienced financial services regulatory lawyer with particular focus on investment adviser regulation and the convergence of investment advisory and brokerage services. She regularly represents clients before the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), both in seeking interpretative guidance and in managing examination and enforcement matters.
Jim Anderson
James E. Anderson is a partner in the Asset Management Department and Chair of the Regulatory and Enforcement practice, in the Washington, D.C. office. His practice covers the entire range of securities regulation and he advises a wide variety of clients, including investment advisers, hedge funds, private equity funds, mutual funds, banks and broker-dealers.
Mr. Anderson advises clients on a broad variety of matters. He has advised investment advisers and investment companies in the purchase and sale of investment advisers and funds. He has counseled investment advisers and hedge funds on compliance matters such as the development and implementation of compliance policies and procedures, mock examinations and other comprehensive reviews of compliance systems and procedures, and investment adviser registration requirements. A central component of his practice is representing investment advisers and hedge funds in examination and enforcement-related inquiries by self-regulatory organizations and the SEC. Mr. Anderson advises investment advisers on compliance with Reg. S-P and the adoption of required policies and procedures to protect consumer financial information. He also advises investment advisers in connection with privacy breaches and related regulatory reporting and enforcement.
Matt Calabro
Matt Calabro is an experienced Chief Compliance Officer, having served as CCO for registered mutual funds, investment advisers and a family of UCITS funds. Before joining CSS, Matt was Deputy CCO at Delaware Investments, where he led the daily activities of the firm’s compliance department covering advisory, fund and distribution activity. Under his leadership, Delaware implemented specific improvements in its guideline compliance, advertising review and Code of Ethics programs. Prior to Delaware, Matt spent 20 years in Raymond James’ investment advisory business, where he led mutual fund operations. While there, Matt implemented and upgraded controls, processes and technology and also served as the first full-time CCO to the mutual funds following the adoption of the Compliance Rule. Matt leverages his compliance and operations experience in the investment management industry to assist advisers and investment companies in advancing the effectiveness of their compliance programs.
