FINRA Names Vanguard CEO, Commonwealth Lawyer as New Governors

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has appointed two new Governors: Vanguard Chairman and CEO Mortimer “Tim” Buckley and Commonwealth Financial Network Senior Vice President and General Counsel Peggy Ho.

Buckley — who joined Vanguard in 1991 and held several senior leadership positions at the firm prior to becoming CEO in January 2018 — will fill the FINRA Board Investment Company Affiliate seat.

Ho fills the board’s Independent Dealer/Insurance Affiliate seat.

She has nearly 15 years of experience overseeing legal, compliance and risk strategy and operations for firms in the independent channel and was previously a corporate associate in private law practice at Ropes & Gray LLP.

Buckley and Ho begin their three-year terms immediately and participate in their first FINRA Board of Governors meeting on Sept. 23-24, FINRA said.

FINRA also announced that at the annual meeting of FINRA firms Wednesday, firms elected the following governors to fill the three open elected seats:

• Timothy C. Scheve, President and CEO of Janney Montgomery Scott LLC, was reelected as a large-firm governor, one of three representatives of large firms on the board. Scheve, who ran unopposed, has served as president and CEO of Janney Montgomery Scott since August 2007 and has more than 30 years of experience in the securities industry, including in a variety of leadership roles at Legg Mason. He was previously elected to the FINRA board in August 2018, after having been appointed to complete a partial term on the Board.
• James T. Crowley, CEO of Pershing Advisor Services LLC — who also ran unopposed — was elected as the sole midsize firm governor on the FINRA board. Prior to becoming CEO in July 2019, he was the firm’s chief operating officer.
• Paige Pierce, president and CEO of the Bley Investment Group, was reelected by small firms to one of the three small-firm governor seats on the FINRA board. Pierce, who was previously elected to FINRA’s board in August 2018, has more than 25 years of securities industry experience. She ran against Daniel P. Logue, counsel and chief compliance officer of Muriel Siebert & Co. Inc.

According to FINRA, seven of the 10 industry seats on FINRA’s board are decided via election, and large, midsize and small firms decide the governors who represent their respective firm categories in those seats.

FINRA is overseen by a 22-member Board of Governors, the majority of whom are public members — that is, from outside the securities industry.

The industry governors include three from large firms, one from a midsize firm, 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.