SIFMA’s Compliance & Legal Society is the leading forum for compliance and legal professionals working in the financial services industry. With a rich 50-year history, it provides a unique opportunity for industry leaders and regulators to come together to share information and collaborate with the goal of ensuring our capital markets are the most fair, transparent and ethical in the world.

We recently sat down with Karen O’Toole, Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Fidelity Investments and Chair of the 2022 SIFMA C&L Annual Seminar. Here, she announces the recipients of our 2022 DEI Advocate and Rauschman Awards, shares a message for first time Seminar attendees, and explains why she is so excited for this year’s much-anticipated event.

The 2022 C&L Annual Seminar is just days away! More than 1,400 professionals will join us in Orlando next week. What’s going through your mind as we make final preparations?

Speaking on behalf of the entire C&L Society Executive Committee and Seminar Planning Committee, we are very excited that our Seminar is just days away and are looking forward to seeing so many colleagues! It has been three long years since we’ve last come together in person. I am thrilled that our registrants are taking time out of their busy schedules to join us, learn new things, refresh relationships and develop new ones.

This is a special year for the C&L Society and the Annual Seminar: we are announcing the first recipients of our new DEI Advocate Award. Drumroll, please!

It is my honor to announce that the recipients of the 2022 DEI Advocate Award are Christopher Lewis of Edward Jones and Jacqueline LiCalzi of Morgan Stanley!

The Society’s DEI Advocate Award celebrates legal and compliance professionals who have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to addressing diversity, equity and inclusion inequities in the financial services industry and designing solutions to ensure that the next generation of leaders reflects our diverse society. We hope that the award brings visibility to the importance of DEI and recognizes the real progress that can be achieved by the industry at large. Starting this year, it will be presented annually by the SIFMA Compliance & Legal Society at our Annual Seminar.

Chris and Jackie are so deserving of our inaugural DEI Advocate Award. They are extraordinary advocates for DEI. Since I have been a member of the Executive and Seminar Planning Committees, the Society’s commitment to DEI has been unwavering and Chris and Jackie have been the driving forces behind our efforts. They consistently help us focus on our diversity, equity and inclusion goals at each and every Committee meeting, but their commitment to DEI goes so much further. They champion DEI every day, in their roles at Edward Jones and Morgan Stanley, more broadly in their professional careers and in their day to day lives. Advancing diversity and fostering a culture of inclusion is part of their DNA and we are excited to recognize them for their dedication and leadership.

The Society also presents an annual award recognizing an individual who has made significant contributions to the compliance and legal profession within the financial services industry. Would you announce the recipient of the 2022 Rauschman Award?

I’d be delighted to! On behalf of the C&L Society, it is my pleasure to announce that Paul Merolla is the recipient of the 2022 Alfred J. Rauschman Award. Paul’s distinguished career has taken him from in-house counsel at Instinet, Goldman Sachs and Drexel Burnham to private practice with McGonigle, P.C. His deep and broad experience includes advising clients on diverse and high-profile topics like insider trading, market manipulation, corporate governance and cross-border matters, and representing clients in litigation and arbitration. He also has worked extensively with mortgage-backed and other asset-based securities and has represented clients in bankruptcy and liquidation proceedings. And, in addition to all this, he served as President of the SIFMA C&L Society. This award is a terrific recognition of his professional accomplishments and leadership in our industry. I also want to acknowledge Paul as a colleague, mentor and friend to so many of us who practice in the financial services space. Paul has always been kind and welcoming – in fact, I remember him warmly reaching out to me at my first Executive Committee meeting. He is a tremendous contributor and asset to our industry and the C&L Society, and we are excited to present him with the 2022 Rauschman Award!

A bit of history: Alfred J. Rauschman was a visionary in the securities industry compliance and legal profession. The roots of SIFMA’s Compliance & Legal Society go back to a time in the late 1960’s when Al Rauschman and a group of his contemporaries began meeting informally to discuss the compliance, legal and regulatory topics affecting the securities industry. These early efforts led ultimately to the founding of what is today known as the SIFMA Compliance & Legal Society, and Al Rauschman served as its first President. The Alfred J. Rauschman Award is presented by the Society annually to a candidate who has demonstrated significant contributions to the compliance and legal communities, promoted open communications among industry practitioners to share ideas and issues, fostered dialogue and communications with regulators and dedicated their career to the securities industry.

Can you tell us what it means to be Chair of this year’s Seminar Planning Committee?

To quote Wayne’s World, “I am not worthy!”

I first attended the C&L Annual Seminar many years ago when it was in Palm Desert, California and I was a junior lawyer. I really was in awe of caliber of talent that spoke at the Seminar and the perspective and experience that they shared. It was incredible to have the opportunity to hear from and meet our industry’s leaders and I found it to be a truly amazing experience. Now, I have the honor to be Chair and stand on the shoulders of all the Seminar Chairs that came before me. Through my time with SIFMA, I have met so many people across our industry and built so many relationships – both personal and professional – that I continue to this day.

I am indebted to my Co-Chairs, the Planning Committee and the Executive Committee for all of their help to bring the Seminar together. This is a terrific group of people who joined to form a creative, organized, well-run team. Throughout the planning process, we brainstormed, collaborated and helped each other out. Especially in the past few years, when we often did not know what the next day might bring, we were an agile, flexible group who always jumped in to help the person in the chair next to us (or rather the Zoom square, as the case may be).

Any final thoughts before you board the plane?

I am so excited for you all to join us! We have a top-flight, substantive agenda where you will hear from leaders in our profession as well as from the business world, the government and our regulators. We will hear about big-picture, strategic topics and also learn actionable, practicable insights that we can bring back to our day jobs. We are going to sharpen our skills and learn from the best.

Just as important, we are going to be together in-person to re-engage with colleagues and meet new ones. Over three and a half days, we will get to know and learn from colleagues from a cross-section of regulators, law firms, vendors and financial services firms. From both a professional and personal perspective, you cannot beat this Seminar.

I have a special message for those that are attending for the first time. There are so many remarkable people that attend this Seminar – SIFMA members, regulators, counsel, vendors and more. I think back to my first Seminar in Palm Desert and remember that, for a first-timer, it can feel intimidating! But don’t let the size of the Seminar, the number of sessions or the titles of our speakers or attendees intimidate you. Everyone wants to meet you. I want to meet you! Register. Go to the First Timer’s Reception. You won’t regret it.

For all those registered to attend, see you in Florida!

Karen O’Toole is Senior Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of Fidelity Investments and Chair of the 2022 SIFMA C&L Annual Seminar. To receive our monthly C&L Society Update and more, please visit my.sifma.org.

To receive our monthly C&L Society Update and more, please create or manage your profile at my.sifma.org. To reconnect, engage and inspire at the 2022 SIFMA C&L Annual Seminar, register today to join us from March 20-23 in Orlando.