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.).
Afshin Atabaki
Afshin Atabaki is Associate General Counsel in FINRA’s Office of General Counsel, Regulatory Practice and Policy. In this capacity, he renders legal advice and support to FINRA management and staff in connection with regulatory initiatives and develops and interprets FINRA rules. His areas of regulatory expertise include recordkeeping requirements.
Mr. Atabaki graduated Phi Beta Kappa, cum laude, from the University of Maryland, College Park, with a B.A. in History and received his law degree from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.
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.
Kerry Gendron Esq.
Kerry Gendron is Senior Vice President, Member Supervision Analytics, Innovation and Solutions (AIS). Her team leads the exploration and adoption of innovative solutions, by leveraging specialist expertise such as data science, business intelligence and human-centered design, in order to amplify Member Supervision’s ability to protect investors and uphold market integrity.
Kerry is a member of the Business Operations Leadership Team for FINRA’s Advanced Analytics Program and serves as the Co-Executive Sponsor for the Createathon, FINRA’s marquee annual innovation event.
Ms. Gendron has spent over 20 years in the financial services industry in various roles related to technology and data strategy, regulatory compliance, risk management and innovation. Immediately prior to joining FINRA in 2019, she was a Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, serving as the Legal & Compliance Division’s Head of Technology Strategy, and Head of Compliance Oversight. Kerry received her MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and her bachelor's in Applied Mathematics, with a minor in Computer Science, from the University of Rhode Island.
