It is the pleasure of SIFMA’s Compliance & Legal Society to present Jill Centella with the 2023 DE&I Advocate Award!

“On behalf of SIFMA’s C&L Society, it is my pleasure to announce Jill Centella as this year’s recipient of the DE&I Advocate Award,” said Michelle Oroschakoff, president of the SIFMA C&L Society and chief legal officer of LPL Financial. “Her dedication, passion, and hard work to push forward important DEI efforts within our industry is truly inspiring. We thank and applaud Jill for her many contributions to making the compliance and legal field more diverse, equitable, and inclusive.”

First awarded in 2022, the SIFMA C&L Society Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) Advocate Award celebrates legal and compliance professionals who have demonstrated an exceptional commitment to building creative solutions that address DE&I inequities in the financial services industry and ensures the next generation of leaders reflects our diverse society. It is presented annually by the SIFMA Compliance & Legal Society at its Annual Seminar.

In 2018, Centella was at the forefront of JPMC’s powerful Leading with Diversity initiative, which mandates that at least 50% of all the firm’s litigation, regulatory, arbitration, and employment matters be led by diverse lawyers at law firms hired to represent the bank. This initiative ensures that diverse attorneys are not only given significant opportunities to lead complex, challenging, and sophisticated matters, but also receive proper recognition within their law firms, changing the power dynamics at law firms.

Within two years of its launch, 51% of JPMC’s litigation matters were overseen by a woman or someone with an ethnically diverse background. By taking the first step – and publicizing its intentions – JPMC has motivated other financial institutions to measure diversity in its outside counsel more rigorously, particularly with respect to diversity in leader roles, and to reward those firms that demonstrate by the numbers that the number of women and other diverse lawyers leading matters is indeed at the 50% threshold.

Within JPMC, Jill was instrumental in launching the Black Legal Forum to foster the sourcing, retention, and growth of Black employees in the legal department. She is also deeply involved with selecting the annual recipient of the JPMC Joan Guggenheimer Outside Counsel Diversity Champion Award, which recognizes a law firm that has demonstrated a commitment to promoting and maintaining a culture of diversity and inclusion.

Jill graduated summa cum laude from the University of Illinois College of Law and was admitted to the Illinois State Bar. Prior to joining JPMC in 1997, Jill was an associate at Jones Day in Chicago and was a law clerk to the Honorable James F. Holderman in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

Congratulations, Jill, and thank you.

Related Resources

• Press Release

• About Jill Centella

• About the DE&I Advocate Award

• About the SIFMA C&L Society