Career Moves

Industry Movers and Shakers.

Melisa Jameson joined Robinhood in July 2021 as the Director, Financial Crimes Investigations. Prior to that, she advised financial institutions and FinTechs on AML and sanctions compliance matters in her role as a director in PwC’s financial crimes practice.

In June 2021, Dave Stetson joined Steptoe &Johnson LLP as a partner in the firm’s International Trade and Regulatory Compliance Group as a partner. He previously served as a senior lawyer at the US Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), and worked for Goldman Sachs as the lead sanctions lawyer for the firm’s global business lines.

In May 2021, Oleksandr Demianenko changed roles BNP Paribas. He is now a sanctions compliance officer for CIB Germany. Before that he served as advisor to the Deputy CEO at Ukrsibbank BNP Paribas Group.

In April 2021, Rachel Crabtree began an exciting new leadership role at PNC as the Vice President, AML Sanctions Advisor. Prior to that, she served as a manager at the firm Alvarez & Marsal.

In February 2021, Aneta Klosek changed roles at Accuity, a LexisNexis® Risk Solutions Company. She is now the Director of Trade Compliance Market Planning. Previously, she served as the Director of Strategic Components of Growth.

In December 2020, Luke Fothergill changed roles at Citi. He is now the Managing Director – EMEA Head of AML. Prior to that he served as the Managing Director – Sanctions and Anti-Bribery and Corruption, where he assessed, managed and further implemented economic sanctions and compliance solutions across all business sectors.

In July 2020, Delia Pawelke became Head of Risk Partnerships & Strategy, Americas at Stripe in San Francisco. Delia is now responsible for managing the risk relationships for Stripe’s financial partners in the U.S., Canada and Latin America and for overseeing large, strategic risk programs. Prior to her current role, Delia worked as a the Global Sanctions Officer for Stripe.

In July 2020, Matthew R. Nicely joined law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld as a partner in its international trade practice in Washington, D.C. Mr. Nicely maintains a market access-focused practice centered on trade remedies and customs work as well as on disputes before the World Trade Organization (WTO). Prior to joining Akin Gump, Matthew worked for 7 years as a Partner for Hughes Hubbard & Reed.

In May 2020, Maria Assusa became a member of the Department of State’s Defense Trade Advisory Group. She also currently serves as Director, Corporate Export Controls for ManTech. Prior to joining ManTech, Maria worked for United Technologies as Senior International Trade Compliance Manager.

In April 2020, Scott Andrews joined Koto Cards as Global Head of Financial Crime. Prior to joining Koto, Scott was employed in a number of different roles at Vanquis Bank, including Head of Fraud and Financial Crime, for almost 14 years.

In February 2020, Matthew Smith MICA joined Commerzbank AG as VP Financial Crime Programme in London. Matthew has worked in the Sanctions industry since 2009. Prior to joining Commerzbank, Matthew gained over a decade of experience in several prominent banks, including: Lloyds Bank, Bank of America, and Credit Agricole.

In February 2020, Andy Wragg joined AXA XL’s London Office as Global Head of Sanctions and Financial Crime. Andy has worked for AXA in similar positions since 2018 and has worked in the regulatory compliance sector for over 35 years. Prior to joining AXA, Andy served as Manager of International Regulatory Risk at Lloyds Bank of London for over three decades.

In January 2020, Sally Peng joined FTI Consulting’s expanding Export Controls & Sanctions team as Managing Director in Hong Kong. Sally is an expert in export controls, economic sanctions, international trade strategy, supply chain management, import/customs related compliance, and duty-mitigation strategies. Prior to joining FTI, Sally served as the Asia Pacific practice leader of a US-based law firm focused on international trade. She participated in negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), and also serves as Senior Advisor to the Hong Kong General Chamber of Textiles Limited.

In January 2020, Alicia Novak joined F-Prime Capital in Boston as Vice President of Compliance and Risk. Alicia has been working as an Attorney since 2003, with a focus on sanctions since early 2019. Prior to joining F-Prime, Alicia worked within the Sanctions & Anti-Corruption team at Fidelity Investments for over 5 years.

In October 2019, Glenda Juliano CAMS joined Raymond James Investment Services at their head office in Tampa, FL as their new Sanctions Manager. Prior to joining Raymond James, Glenda worked as Senior AML & Trade Control Analyst for Franklin Templeton Investments.

In October 2019, Hera U. Smith, Esq. CAMS joined Danish giant Danske Bank as a Senior Sanctions Officer of the Sanctions & Embargo team. Prior to joining Danske Bank, Hera worked as Global Sanctions Compliance Officer for Associated Foreign Exchange (AFEX) in Los Angeles, CA for just over 3 years. Hera continues to act as Managing Editor for the California International Law Journal.

In September 2019, after over 24 years of working for HSBC, Martin Xerri has joined Bank of Valletta as Head of Sanctions. Prior to joining Bank of Valletta, Martin worked for HSBC Bank in Malta where he worked first as a Sanctions, Anti-Bribery & Corruption Manager and then as Regulatory Compliance Manager.

In July 2019, Stuart Gamester started a new position as Senior Trade Compliance Manager at Shell (UK). Prior to joining Shell, Stuart worked as Sanctions Compliance Director and Trade Compliance Lead at GlaxoSmithKline since 2013.

In June 2019, Saam Youssefi-Rad started a new position as Sanctions Compliance Director at Citi’s Washington D.C. offices. Prior to joining Citi, Saam worked as Head of OFAC and Sanctions Compliance at Deutsche Bank since 2013.

In March 2019, Matthew Nielsen has joined Bracewell LLP’s Dallas office as a partner in the white collar defense group. Matthew regularly represents US and international clients on matters related to federal and state securities laws, US export controls and sanctions laws, as well as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Matthew previously was a partner at Stanton LLP, a litigation boutique in Dallas, which he joined in 2017 from Andrews Kurth LLP.

In March 2019, Matt Bell started a new position as Senior Managing Director and Global Practice Leader within the Export Controls and Sanctions Practice at FTI Consulting. Prior to joining FTI, Matt worked as Chief Compliance Officer at ZTE USA and Deputy Chief Compliance Officer at ZTE Corporation since 2016.

In February 2019, Alicia Novak joined one of the largest private banks in the United States, Brown Brothers Harriman (BBH) in Boston, as Head of Global Sanctions Advisory. Prior to joining BBH, Alicia worked for almost four years as Director of Global Sanctions & Anti-Corruption at Fidelity Investments.

In January, 2019, Jeffrey Schwartz joined the law offices of Booz Allen Hamilton as Associate General Counsel in their International Trade Compliance practices in Washington, D.C. Jeff brings with him over 11 years of legal experience in both private practice and the corporate sector. Prior to joining Booz Allen Hamilton, Jeff worked for three years as Senior Global Trade Counsel at Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

In January, 2019, Joe Soniat joined the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as a Senior Associate in Account Risk Management. Joe brings with him almost 15 years of experience in BSA/AML compliance. Prior to joining Federal Reserve Bank of NY, Joe worked for nine years as a Bank Security Officer at Union Bank Shares Corp.

In January, 2019, Daiske Yoshida joined global law firm, Morrison & Foerster LLP, to head their Global Antitrust Law and Investigations + White Collar Defense practice in the firm’s Tokyo office. Mr. Yoshida brings to the firm more than 20 years of cross-border regulatory experience in both the United States and Japan across a wide range of sectors including the life sciences and electronics industries. Prior to joining M&F, Yoshida was a Partner in Latham & Watkins NY office for 12 years.

In September 2018, Todd Willis joined Caterpillar Inc. as Global Trade Advisor. Previously, Todd was Deputy Director at the Export Enforcement Coordination Center at Department of Commerce – Bureau of Industry and Security.

On June 1, 2018, Ben Wood has joined Nomura as Executive Director – Sanctions Head EMEA. Wood is based in London, UK. Prior to joining Nomura, Wood served as EMEA Regional Sanctions Compliance at Citigroup.

On April 10, 2018, Joseph Bognanno has joined SBS (Safe Banking Systems) in the newly created position of Chief Innovation Officer. Bognanno will be based in the company’s Mineola headquarters. Prior to joining SBS, Bognanno served as SVP, Head of Global Risk Analytics at HSBC.

As of October 2017, Eric Lorber became Senior Advisor to the Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence at United States Treasury Department. Previously, he was Senior advisor at the Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance, in Washington DC.

On June 4, 2017, Elisabeth Moreno became Compliance Officer I, Financial Crimes Compliance at Fifth Third Bank, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Previously, she was Compliance Analyst I, Economic sanctions, Financial Crime at the same financial institution.

In April 2017, Alison Cooper joined U.S. Treasury as Chief, Blocked Assets Administration and Analysis, Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in Washington, DC. Before joining OFAC, she was Director, Global Sanctions at PayPal.

On March 14, 2017 Daniel “Danny” Glaser joined strategic consulting firm Financial Integrity Network (FIN) as a Principal. Before joining FIN, Mr. Glaser served as the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing in the Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

On February 17, 2017 Georgi Neshkov is now Sanctions Compliance Officer – Global Financial Crime Compliance at JPMorgan Chase, Bournemouth, United Kingdom. Previously, he was Associate Compliance Officer at the same financial institution.

On February 15, 2017 – Tamer Soliman joined Mayer Brown as a partner in its International Trade practice, where he will serve as the global head of its Export Controls and Economic Sanctions practice group. He will be based in the firm’s Washington DC office and spend substantial time in the Dubai office. He came from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.

On January 20, 2017, Kevin Wolf joined the global law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP as a partner in its international trade practice.  Mr. Wolf was the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Export Administration in the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) at the U.S. Department of Commerce for the previous seven years.

On January 6, 2017, Perry Bechky joined Berliner Corcoran & Rowe LLP as partner in Washington, DC, where he will continue his practice focusing on economic sanctions and other regulation of international trade. Before joining BCR, Mr. Bechky practiced at his own firm, called International Trade & Investment Law PLLC (ITI Law).

On January 1, 2017, Stefan Brey became Director I Global Head Operations 440 HCs (Sanctions / SWIFT Messaging / Audit Balance Confirmation) at SWIFT in Frankfurt, Germany. Before that he was Director | Global Head Operation and Sanction Operation (300 HCs US/GER/India at SWIFT.

As of January 2017, Zartash Sultan, CAMS, became Team Leader AML/CDD & Sanctions Compliance at Habib Metropolitan Bank (Subsidiary of AG Zurich), in Karachi, Pakistan. Previously, he was Senior Compliance Officer at the same financial institution.