Lecturer Bios
Haimera Workie, Esq.
Haimera Workie is a Senior Director responsible for heading up FINRA’s Office of Emerging Regulatory Issues, which focuses on analyzing new and emerging risks and trends related to the securities market. Previously, Mr. Workie served as Deputy Associate Director in the Division of Trading and Markets at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In this capacity, Mr. Workie was tasked with developing a variety of Dodd-Frank Act related rulemakings, supervising policy matters related to market intermediaries and financial market utilities, and representing the Commission before several international standard setting bodies.
Mr. Workie also previously served as Counsel to Commission Chair Mary Schapiro. Prior to joining the Commission, he was an associate at the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, with a practice focusing on corporate law. He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (B.S., M.S.) and Harvard Law School (J.D.).
Surabhi Ahmad
Surabhi Ahmad is Vice President, Compliance at Ameriprise Financial. She leads
a global team charged with the compliance review of advertising, marketing and
communication materials for Ameriprise and its insurance and asset management
businesses, RiverSource and Columbia Threadneedle Investments. She also leads
a team of compliance professionals supporting the distribution of U.S. and global
products for Columbia Threadneedle through intermediary and institutional
channels. Based in Boston, Ms. Ahmad joined Ameriprise Financial in 2011.
She has spent the last 24 years in risk- and compliance-related roles within the financial
services industry including leadership roles at State Street Global Advisors and
Fidelity Investments. She has also worked at international firms in Singapore and India supporting clients
with trade finance, immigration and corporate law needs. Her diverse and international experience has
enabled her to provide a global perspective to the multiple organizations she’s been a part of.
Ms. Ahmad
received a B.S. from Calcutta University and a Professional Law Certification from the Delhi C.S. Institute in
India. She holds the Series 7 and Series 24 securities license with FINRA.
Alexander C. Gavis, Esq.
Alexander C. Gavis is Senior Vice President & Deputy General Counsel in the Corporate Legal Department of FMR LLC, the parent company of Fidelity Investments, one of the largest brokerage and mutual fund companies in the United States and the leading provider of workplace retirement savings plans. He manages a team of attorneys and professionals and is responsible for providing legal services to the firm's retail brokerage, college savings, stock plan and workplace retirement businesses. He also oversees and manages legal services for Fidelity's businesses involved in electronic and mobile commerce, start-up innovation, and social media. Mr. Gavis also oversees legal advice on all of Fidelity’s national advertising and marketing initiatives. He serves as chair of the firm’s Social Media and E-Communications Legal Practice Group.
Prior to joining Fidelity in 1997, Mr. Gavis served as Assistant Counsel at the Investment Company Institute and as Senior Counsel in the Office of General Counsel at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, both in Washington, DC. He also served as a judicial law clerk for The Honorable William T. Allen, Chancellor of the Court of Chancery for the State of Delaware. He has worked in investment banking in New York at Salomon Brothers Inc, handling mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Gavis received his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and his bachelor’s degree, with High Honors and Phi Beta Kappa, from Swarthmore College.
Mr. Gavis served as Chair of FINRA’s Social Media Task Force and on its Membership Committee, and he is an adjunct professor at Suffolk University Law School and the Stanford Design School. He has served as President and a board member of the Wellesley Free Library Foundation.
Alicia Goldin, Esq.
Alicia Goldin is Senior Special Counsel in the Division of Trading and Markets,
Office of Chief Counsel, specializing in broker-dealer sales practices, with a
particular focus on issues relating to Regulation Best Interest, Form CRS,
advertising, supervision and arbitration.
Ms. Goldin previously served as Counsel to
former SEC Commissioner Elisse B. Walter. Prior to joining the Commission in 2007,
Ms. Goldin spent four years in private practice. She earned her law degree from the
University of Michigan Law School and her undergraduate degree from the
University of Virginia.
