It is the pleasure of SIFMA’s Compliance & Legal Society to present Tonia Bottoms with the 2024 DE&I Advocate Award!

“The Compliance & Legal Society is honored to award Tonia Bottoms the 2024 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Advocate Award,” said Scott Kursman, President, SIFMA C&L Society. “Tonia’s unwavering commitment to DE&I has not only elevated BNY Mellon but has set a benchmark for the financial services industry at large. We thank her for her many contributions and leadership in this space.”

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.

Bottoms serves as a Managing Director and Senior Managing Counsel at BNY Mellon’s Pershing, concurrently holding the role of Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) Advocate on Pershing’s Executive Committee. Tonia specializes in the areas of retirement plans and financial products. She works closely with senior leadership on developing regulatory and legislative matters affecting the retirement and fiduciary business and serves as a member of SIFMA’s Retirement & Education Savings Committee.

As Diversity & Inclusion Advocate, Tonia leads efforts for Pershing to advance diversity as a business imperative and inclusion as an essential leadership skill. “Diversity, equity and inclusion are a passion for me because it’s part of who I am,” says Bottoms. “I am a woman, I am a black woman, a mom, a daughter, a mentor, a lawyer. I’m the wife of a police officer. All of those different things contribute to my identity.”

Tonia has served as Global Co-Chair of IMPACT, a BNY Mellon Multicultural Ethnic and Racial Diversity Employee Resource group, and as the chair of IMPACT’s Black Leadership Forum. She has been recognized as a three-time 100 Ethnic Minority Executive on Empower’s Role Model list, a 2022 Most Influential Black Lawyer by Savoy Magazine and a CUP 2022 Finance Catalyst by the Council of Urban Professionals. Tonia earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and a Juris Doctorate degree from the University of Maryland.

Tonia’s commitment to DE&I has been “nothing short of amazing,” said Pershing CEO Jim Crowley. “You’ve been a role model within the organization, but more broadly to the clients that we serve and to the firms around us.”

Congratulations, Tonia, and thank you. We are grateful for your advocacy and your leadership.

In This Video

• Mike Burns, President & Founding Partner, The Burns Brothers
• James T. Crowley, Senior Executive Vice President and Global Head of Pershing
• Gregory Nehro, General Counsel – Americas, BNY Mellon
• Jim Reynolds, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Loop Capital Markets
• Melanie Warren, SVP, BNY Mellon | Pershing

Related Resources

• Press Release

• About Tonia Bottoms

• About the DE&I Advocate Award

• About the SIFMA C&L Society