Lecturer Bios
James S. Wrona, Esq.
James S. Wrona is Vice President and Associate General Counsel for FINRA in Washington, DC. In this role, he is responsible for various policy initiatives, rule changes and litigation regarding the securities industry. Mr. Wrona formerly was associated with the law firm of K&L Gates LLP, where his practice focused on complex federal litigation. He also previously served as a federal law clerk for the Honorable A. Andrew Hauk of the United States District Court for the Central District of California (Los Angeles).
Mr. Wrona is a frequent speaker at securities and litigation conferences and author of numerous law review articles, including The Best of Both Worlds: A Fact-Based Analysis of the Legal Obligations of Investment Advisers and Broker-Dealers and a Framework for Enhanced Investor Protection, 68 Bus. Law. 1 (Nov. 2012); The Securities Industry and the Internet: A Suitable Match 2001 Colum. Bus. L. Rev. 601 (2001).
William St. Louis
William St. Louis is the District Director of FINRA’s New York and Long Island offices and manages the sales practice examination and surveillance staff in those offices. Prior to assuming this role in June 2014, he was the Regional Enforcement Chief Counsel for FINRA’s North Region where he managed Enforcement staff in FINRA’s New Jersey, Boston, and Philadelphia offices.
He joined the company in 1998 and spent several years in a variety of Enforcement roles in New York including service as a Deputy Regional Chief Counsel. Mr. St. Louis earned a B.A. from Baruch College and a law degree from New York University School of Law. Prior to law school he worked in the Compliance Department of a regional broker-dealer.
Peter Driscoll, Esq.
Peter Driscoll was named Director of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Compliance
Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) in October 2017, after serving as Acting Director since January 2017.
Before that, he served as OCIE’s first Chief Risk and Strategy Officer since March 2016, and was previously
OCIE’s Managing Executive from 2013 through February 2016.
He joined the Agency in 2001 as a staff
attorney in the Division of Enforcement in the Chicago Regional Office and was later a Branch Chief and
Assistant Regional Director in OCIE’s Investment Adviser and Investment Company examination program.
Prior to the Agency, Mr. Driscoll began his career with Ernst & Young LLP and held several accounting
positions in private industry. He received his B.S. in Accounting and law degree from St. Louis University. He is licensed as a certified public accountant and is a member of the Missouri Bar Association
Emily Westerberg Russell, Esq.
Emily Westerberg Russell was named Chief Counsel of the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets in July
2019, after serving as a member of the Office of Chief Counsel for a decade. The Office of Chief Counsel
provides legal and policy advice to the Commission on a variety of matters affecting broker-dealers and the
operation of the securities markets.
Among other things, the Office was responsible for developing and
drafting key components of the Commission’s recently adopted package of rulemakings and interpretations
designed to enhance the quality and transparency of retail investors’ relationships with investment advisers
and broker-dealers, in particular, Regulation Best Interest. Ms. Russell received the SEC’s Jay Manning
Award in 2019 in recognition of her commitment to excellence, dedication to fair and honest markets, and
tireless pursuit of just and workable regulatory responses to practical business problems.
She also was a joint recipient of the Chairman’s Award for Excellence for her work on the IA/BD Team, and a joint recipient of the Law and Policy Award for her work on the Dodd-Frank Legislative Response Team. Prior to joining the SEC, she was a Senior Associate in the Financial Institutions Group at WilmerHale, where she advised broker dealers and other financial institutions regarding compliance with a wide range of securities and banking laws, including anti-money laundering requirements. Ms. Russell received her J.D. from Columbia University School of Law, where she was a James Kent and a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and served as Executive Editor of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. She earned her B.A., summa cum laude, in economics and international relations from Colgate University.
