SECURITIES EXPERTS ROUNDTABLE - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner, AH Franklin LLC
Alan Harry began his career working with Cooper and Neff to complete one of the first solvable solutions for pricing derivatives in the financial markets. After graduating from Rutgers, he began his trading career on COMEX becoming one of the largest gold derivatives traders in the market.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Member of the Finance Committee
- President
- Owner / Consultant, Securities Expert Witness & Litigation Support, LLC
Mr. Besnoff's expert engagements typically involve sales practices and violations of rules and industry standards in securities, life insurance and annuities, supervisory and U-5/wrongful termination.
Alan Besnoff has 30+ years of experience within the industry, primarily in supervisory and leadership positions.
Mr. Besnoff has passed FINRA registration examinations for Series 6, 63, 65, 7, 26, and 24, and state licensing examinations for Life Insurance & Annuities, Disability Insurance, Long Term Care Insurance, Variable Life Insurance and Variable Annuities.
Professional designations held by Mr. Besnoff include:
Job Titles:
- Managing Principal, Agile Financial LLC
Job Titles:
- President, Sand Spring Advisors LLC
Barclay Leib, CFE, CAIA is an accomplished alternative asset due diligence professional who has been conducting due diligence and asset allocation on a variety of alternative investments (hedge funds, venture capital, private equity, alternative direct lending) for the majority of the past 19 years. He previously was a senior derivatives trader at firms including JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Barclays Bank, and Societe Generale for the first 20-years of his career. He also ran Alternatives Research for Fortigent LLC ($70 bln of assets advised) for two years.
Mr. Leib has testified in AAA arbitration matters related to hedge funds, due diligence, fiduciary duty, and market manipulation, and has assisted the SEC, CFTC, SDNY, and FBI, as well as several law firms, in various financial investigations that have resulted in successful criminal prosecutions.
Mr. Leib holds active FINRA Series 7, 63, 65 license s (FINRA Series 3 previously, now expired). He is an approved FINRA Arbitrator. He has the analytical expertise to dissect complex financial situations, and to explain financial issues in an understandable manner through strong writing skills.
Named a Wilson Scholar at Princeton University, Mr. Leib completed his Princeton thesis on the regulatory aspects of the 1980 Hunt Silver Crisis. This research work was subsequently introduced as Expert Analysis into Congressional and Senate Sub-Committee's records. He later investigated various derivatives trading issues for various financial publications including Institutional Investor, Plan Sponsor, Global Custodian, and Derivatives Strategy. Mr. Leib recently co-authored 2020 CFA Level III curriculum text on hedge funds and factor risk. He has contributed sections of two other books related to alternative investing, and appeared as a guest on Jim Grant's "Current Yield" podcast which can be found at this link:
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- President, Capital Markets Management Consultants, LLC
Expertise
FINRA Sales Practices, Suitability, Mark-up & Mark-down analysis, Profit and Loss Damage Calculations, Regulation D private placements, Accredited Investors, Regulation S offshore offerings, Rule 144A offerings, Excessive Commissions, Registrations and Public Offerings, FINRA Rules, Reasonable Basis Inquiries, Due Diligence Investigations, Conflicts of Interest, Fiduciary Obligations, Series 7 General Securities Exam, Series 24 Supervisors Exam, Series 9 and 10 NYSE Supervisory Exams, Series 55 OTC Traders Exam, Series 66 State Exam, Real Estate Programs, Corporate Offerings, Exchange Listing Standards, Broker Dealer Registration, Broker Dealer Risk Management, Internal Controls
Charles is a corporate and securities lawyer who has spent over 30 years managing and advising in all aspects of securities distributions. His experience has involved public, private and municipal capital formation in both government and private sectors. During law school in San Francisco, he worked on the floor of the Pacific Stock Exchange and in the securities legal department for a real estate syndicator. After law school, Charles started his career in the Corporate Financing Department of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. (now known as FINRA) in Washington, DC, eventually becoming the Director of the Department. He managed a large staff that was responsible for approving the terms of FINRA member public offerings, including permissible levels of compensation and other underwriting terms and arrangements. While Director of Corporate Financing, he earned his Master of Laws, Securities Law, from Georgetown University Law Center. He left FINRA and entered the securities industry where he worked as manager of the equity syndicate desk at his first firm and in-house legal counsel and chief compliance officer at all 3 firms. He , qualified as an associated person of a broker dealer, passing the Series 7, Series 24, Series 9, Series 10, Series 55, and Series 66 examinations.
As in-house legal counsel Charles was responsible for the dispute resolution docket, contract management and human resources. As vice president and chief compliance officer, he was responsible for providing sales managers and trading desk supervisors with advice on the day-to-day oversight of sales and supervisory processes for retail and institutional broker dealers, investment bankers, research analysts and investment advisors.
Charles left the securities industry to become a consultant and expert witness, providing litigation counsel and clients with significant insights related to all aspects of FINRA rules and regulations, particularly sales practices such as suitability, churning, excessive mark-ups and commissions, broker dealer risk management, internal controls, due diligence obligations and reasonable basis inquiries in both public and private offerings. He also advises and testifies on all aspects of SEC broker dealer regulation and compliance and SEC disclosure obligations for public offerings, including the structure and sales practices of private placements structured to comply with the provisions of Regulation D.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Finance Committee
- Director
- Treasurer
- President, Charles W. Ranson Consulting, Inc
David C. Hinman, CFA has more than 25 years of global asset management, banking, and finance experience. He is an accomplished business leader, entrepreneur, and investment manager. Mr. Hinman possesses a deep knowledge of the institutional financial services industry, having 20 years of hands-on portfolio management experience and having served as a Chief Investment Officer (CIO) of an asset management company he co-founded. He has also participated in numerous corporate debt restructurings and served on workout creditor committees.
Mr. Hinman recently retired from Salient Partners where he was a Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager and oversaw all the firm's credit products. As part of an acquisition of Forward Management in June 2015, Salient acquired the assets of SW Asset Management, a SEC-registered investment advisor which Mr. Hinman co-founded in 2009. SW was a boutique asset manager which specialized in managing emerging market corporate debt investments for institutional and retail investors. In his role as CIO, he created and implemented the investment policy, managed portfolio structuring and supervised trade execution.
Prior to starting SW, Mr. Hinman was Managing Director and Global Head of Credit at Drake Management in New York City. He oversaw all aspects of the firm's global corporate bond and equity investments and sat on Drake's five-person investment committee. Before joining Drake, he worked for Ares Management in Los Angeles, a distressed debt and private equity firm, where he oversaw capital market activities. Mr. Hinman spent most of his investment career at Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO). Serving on the firm's shadow investment and company retirement committees enabled him to contribute to both investment and business strategies. He also structured and managed several closed-end 1940 Act mutual funds and Collateralized Loan Obligations.
Previously Mr. Hinman held Series 3, 63, 65 and 7 licenses.
Job Titles:
- Chief Executive and Chairman, Expert Evidence International Limited
Job Titles:
- Expert
- President and Senior Consultant, Market Consulting Corporation
Dr. Ronald Cornew provides expert financial and litigation consulting services to attorneys who represent plaintiffs/claimants and defendants/respondents nationally, including appearances in state and federal court in numerous states, various arbitration and commission proceedings and the U.S. Tax Court.
He has over two decades of experience in a broad range of financial industry specialties with directly relevant background to guide the development of the factual side of the case and applicability of related laws and regulations, prepare reports, and provide expert testimony in hearings and court hearings.
Along with legal dispute resolution, Dr. Cornew's consulting experience has included review of customer complaints for major brokerage firms and assignments for the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group including each of its Designated Contract Markets, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), and the New York Commodity Exchange (COMEX), as well as the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC), the Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association / College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA/CREF), banks and other major financial clients.
Dr. Cornew has served the American Arbitration Association, the National Futures Association and FINRA as both a panelist and Chairperson in securities and futures-related arbitrations. He has served as well as an industry consultant, a University Finance Professor, and an international lecturer on U.S. market regulation.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Webcast Committee
- Founder and Managing Principal at Falk Financial Analysis
Elizabeth Falk is the Founder and Managing Principal at Falk Financial Analysis, a firm specializing in Securities Account Analysis and Intra-Industry Dispute reports, Litigation Consulting, and Portfolio Performance Analysis / Damages Expert testimony. Over the past 22 years in practice, she has prepared reports in more than 2,000 cases and testified more than 100 times in arbitration (FINRA and AAA) and court.
Most recently, Elizabeth was the Moderator for SER's "Zoom Testimony" live webcast in June of 2020 and a Speaker on the "Damages and Remedies" Panel at the NYSBA Securities Arbitration 2020:Deep Dive event in New York City in March of 2020.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Public Relations Committee
- Adjunct Professor of Law at Fordham Law School
- Principal of George H. Friedman Consulting
- Publisher, Securities Arbitration Alert, LLC
Mr. Friedman is principal of George H. Friedman Consulting, LLC, providing expert advice on arbitration and mediation in general and the FINRA dispute resolution forum in particular. He also serves as publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the online weekly Securities Arbitration Alert. Mr. Friedman is a member of the American Arbitration Association's national Roster of Neutrals.
Mr. Friedman is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Fordham Law School, where he has taught a course on alternative dispute resolution since 1996. He is also non-executive Chairman of the Board of Directors of Arbitration Resolution Services, Inc. of Coral Springs, FL.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Web Site Committee
- Director
- Secretary
- Chairman of Web Site Committee
Mission: To enhance communication among members, as well as outside the group by maintaining and designing changes to the SER Website. Official materials published or distributed to members via the Website are approved in advance by the Board, and/or President and President-Elect.
Job Titles:
- Director
- CFF, CFE
- Principal of Yale Forensics
Gordon Yale is a CPA, CFF and CFE. Mr. Yale is the principal of Yale Forensics, a Denver-based forensic accounting and financial consulting firm specializing in due diligence and securities fraud as well as the former president of Yale Group, Inc., a boutique investment bank. Mr. Yale, a former securities analyst, has served as a special investigative consultant to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the states of Colorado, Florida and Hawaii, and as an expert for both plaintiffs and defendants in many civil matters in Federal and state courts as well as FINRA and AAA arbitrations on behalf of institutional and other clients. Mr. Yale has provided expert consulting or testimony in matters involving Bear Stearns, Angelo Mozilo, a Madoff feeder fund and six other Ponzi schemes. Mr. Yale has extensive experience analyzing debt (including tax-exempt debt) and equity securities. Mr. Yale has written about extensively about securitizations, accounting issues and various frauds, including Enron, Silverado Savings and Loan, Countrywide Financial, Bear Stearns and others for a variety of professional and other publications.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Expert Witness, Kroll
Job Titles:
- Managing Member, Kyprios International Services LLC
Job Titles:
- Financial Advisor
- Expert Witness, Barrington Financial Consulting
Mr. Garber has been a financial advisor and has experience with individual and institutional accounts for over 30 years. His expertise includes all aspects of advice which includes security selection, portfolio management and financial planning and continuing monitoring that is required by a fiduciary. Additional expertise includes suitability, fiduciary standards and financial mismanagement among others.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Audit Committee
- Director
Job Titles:
- Broker / Dealer Operations
- Managing Partner, PNA Consulting, LLC
Job Titles:
- Director
- Financial Expert
- Principal, Kerry Campbell LLC
Mr. Campbell has served as a financial expert witness on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants in litigations and claimants and respondents in arbitrations. He has been retained by institutional investors, high net worth investors, large global financial institutions, trustees and trust beneficiaries.
Job Titles:
- Chartered Financial Analyst
- Adjunct Professor of Finance at the University of Alabama Huntsville
Mr. Brol is an Adjunct Professor of Finance at the University of Alabama Huntsville where he teaches upper level and graduate level finance courses. Courses taught include Financial Planning, Principles of Finance, Financial Institutions and Markets, Intermediate Corporate Finance, Advanced Corporate Finance, and Financial Decisions under Uncertainty (graduate level course).
Mr. Brol is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) which is recognized worldwide as one of the most prestigious and respected designations for investment professionals. Mr. Brol has a Bachelors of Science in Finance and Economics from Illinois State University and a Masters of Business in Finance from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois. In 1992, Mr. Brol was awarded the Outstanding Young Alumni Award at Illinois State University.
Job Titles:
- Consultant and Expert Witness, Investment Strategy & Analysis
Marty Dirks has more than twenty years of experience as an institutional investor.
He serves as a Board Member for the City of San José Retirement System, an Adjunct Professor of Finance at Golden Gate University in San Francisco and testifies as an expert witness in complex financial litigation.
Marty began his investment career after graduating from Harvard Business School by joining the business development group at Cooper Industries, a Fortune 100 industrial company. There he worked on the acquisition of private and public companies.
He transitioned to public stock investing as a long/short equity analyst/portfolio manager at Feshbach Brothers, Odyssey Partners, and Harvard's endowment. At Harvard, he was the sole manager of a long/short technology equity portfolio that grew from $110 million to $870 million.
After leaving Harvard, Marty founded and managed a long/short equity hedge fund and consulted and testified on financial issues as an expert witness in complex financial litigation cases. As the Director of Research at McCullough & Associates, a boutique value equity manager, he managed the research process. As an investment consultant at Milliman, he advised pension plans, endowments and foundations on projects ranging from asset allocation and manager selection to being the sole investment advisor for several defined benefit and defined contribution pensions, endowments and foundations. He served as the Milliman in-house expert for hedge funds, private equity and other alternative investments.
Marty holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Engineering Physics.
Job Titles:
- Managing Partner, CapMarketsIQ LLC
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Public Relations Committee
- Member of the Finance Committee
- Member of the Webcast Committee
Patricia Koetting has 35 years experience providing statistical analysis of investment accounts for securities attorneys and expert witnesses on behalf of claimants or respondents. She has been retained in over 2,000 cases analyzing over 5,000 accounts. Her area of expertise is account analysis and damage calculations on investments including stocks, bonds, options, mutual funds, annuities, structured products and commodities.
Prior to setting up private practice, Patricia was hired by a major brokerage firm to set up the account analysis division within the firm's legal department. She has a BS in Finance, magna cum laude, from NYU Stern School of Business.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Co - Founder, Oyster Consulting, LLC
Patrick M. Dennis has been involved in the securities industry for over 35 years, most recently as one of the Founding Principals of Oyster Consulting, LLC. Has held CCO positions at broker/dealers, investment advisors and dual registrants.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Nominating Committee
- Director
- Member of the Finance Committee
- Director / past President
- President, Sententia LLC
Mission: To actively seek and recruit new members that qualify for membership and will benefit from SER as well as contribute to the organization, and to mentor new members as they come onboard.
Mission: To identify and recruit qualified and interested members to serve as officers and directors of SER.
Job Titles:
- Expert Consultant, Barrington Financial Counsulting Group, Inc
- Stock Options and Financial Futures Expert Witness
Paul W. Carlson has over 30 years of experience in the financial services industry with special expertise in stock options and financial futures. He has extensive experience as a former futures trader and member of the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) and as options risk manager at the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE). Paul's deep experience with market data systems as it relates to interaction with Securities Industry Automated Corporation (SIAC), Options Price Reporting Authority (OPRA), Options Clearing Corporation, (OCC) and various data /trading systems platforms provides a unique perspective in situations involving order execution and systems availability. Additionally, Paul has vast experience with SPAN margin including inter and intra market spreads.
As a stock options and financial futures Expert Witness and Litigation Support Consultant, Mr. Carlson provides unbiased verbal opinions and written reports for both claimants and respondents for FINRA Arbitrations, depositions, mediations and court settings. He speaks with proficiency and precision and his expert opinions on options, futures, and risk management are founded upon his years of industry experience through the understanding of industry rule, the standards of professional conduct, and the code of ethics for the brokerage, investment management, and financial futures industries.
Mr. Carlson has successfully completed the following FINRA and NFA examinations:
• National Futures Association (NFA) Series 3 | National Commodities Futures
• FINRA Series 4 | Registered Securities Principal
• FINRA Series 7 | General Securities Principal
• FINRA Series 53 | Municipal Securities Principal
• FINRA Series 63 | Uniform Securities Agent
• FINRA Series 65 | Uniform Investment Adviser
Education
M.B.A Finance with International Emphasis
• Loyola University of Chicago
B.B.A. Economics
• Loyola University of Chicago
Mission: To foster relationships with Securities Law Clinics across the country in order to provide pro-bono expert work and to share expertise with students.
Job Titles:
- Chairman of the Practice Management Committee
- Director
- President and Managing Principal of Barrington Financial Consulting Group
ROBERT LAWSON is an experienced and accomplished FINRA and Securities Expert Witness. He is an active CEO and CCO of an RIA that he established in 1988. His credentials include: Certified Securities Compliance Professional, Master Registered Financial Consultant, (MRFC®), Accredited Investment Fiduciary, (AIF®), Certified Fraud Examiner, (CFE®), FINRA Mediator/Arbitrator, a Certified Mediator, and a Life Underwriter Training Council Fellow, (LUTCF®).
Lawson is the President and Managing Principal of Barrington Financial Consulting Group, a full-service Securities and Insurance Litigation Support Consulting firm with a team of 12 experienced financial services testifying and consulting experts.
For nearly 40 years, Lawson has worked in the brokerage industry as a FINRA Registered Securities and Options Principal, Registered Representative, Investment Fiduciary, and Insurance Agent.
Mr. Lawson serves as a FINRA Arbitrator & Mediator, A Certified Mediator, NFA Arbitrator (Chair-Qualified), and Qualified Neutral under Rule 114 of the Minnesota General Rules of Practice (Adjudicative/Evaluative).
Mr. Lawson serves as a Director, Board Member or Committee Member for the following organizations:
• Securities Experts Roundtable - Practice Management Chair
• Master Registered Financial Consultants (MRFC®) - Chair
• National Society of Compliance Professionals (NSCP)
• Twin Cities Chapter Certified Fraud Examiners (CFE)
• Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE®) - Member
• Minnesota State Bar Association ADR Section - Membership Chair
• Chartered Financial Analyst Institute (CFA®) - Member
• CFA® Society of Minnesota - Member
Mission: To provide opportunities for new and existing members to connect with experienced Experts throughout the year on practice management tips that relate to operating a successful securities litigation support practice.
Job Titles:
- Chairman
- Director
- Member of the Finance Committee
- President - Elect
- Founder, Robert E Graham Consulting
Mission: To plan the agenda for the Annual Conference presenting professional education programs with a combination of member and prominent outside speakers.
Ross Tulman began his career in the financial services industry as a Series 7 Registered Representative in 1982. Mr. Tulman has been a Registered Investment Advisor since1985. Today he is the Senior Partner of Trade Investment Analysis Group in Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Tulman founded the firm in 1985 to manage investment portfolios of high net worth individuals, small businesses and retirement plans. TIA Group's current focus is to provide expert witness services to counsel engaged in securities and investment arbitration and litigation.
Mr. Tulman has been an active participant in the dispute resolution process for 30 years. He began his career as an expert witness after the 1987 stock market crash. He has been retained to consult and testify regarding the full spectrum of issues frequently contested in brokerage and investment advisory matters. He has provided testimony in both state and Federal court, and in arbitrations before the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (formerly the National Association of Securities Dealers), the American Arbitration Association, the New York Stock Exchange, Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services, and several other forums. Ross has testified on behalf of institutional and public customers, broker/dealers, investment advisory firms, and banks throughout the country. He is one of the few experts who is routinely consulted and retained on behalf of both claimants and respondents, and plaintiffs and defendants. He has appeared in numerous high profile interesting and complex matters.
Mr. Tulman serves on the Board of Directors of the Securities Experts' Roundtable (SER). The membership of SER consists of many of the top securities and investment experts in the country. Ross served as the President of SER in 2006-2007 and again in 2016-17. Ross has been a frequent public speaker on topics concerning securities arbitration, most notably with the Practising Law Institute. He has published a number of articles related to the practice of experts in arbitration. He serves as an arbitrator for FINRA and the NFA and has occasionally been retained as a mediator.
Mr. Tulman earned a BA in English from Emory University, an MBA in Taxation from Xavier University and an MS in Finance from Johns Hopkins University.
Job Titles:
- Managing Director - Financial Advisor, B. Riley Wealth Management
Job Titles:
- Founder of V & V Consulting Group
- Managing Principal, V & V Consulting Group, LLC
Vivian Velazquez is the founder of V&V Consulting Group, a boutique consulting firm in S Florida offering expert witness, litigation support and regulatory compliance to domestic and offshore banks and financial institutions, broker-dealers, investment advisors and hedge funds.
Vivian has over 25 years of industry experience in the private and regulatory sectors. She previously held senior compliance positions at global and national financial institutions with billions in assets under management and offices throughout the U.S and Latin America. Vivian played a leading role in the successful launch of the broker-dealer subsidiary for a global European bank, supported major conversions, mergers, business restructurings, Anti-Money-Laundering regulatory look backs and remediation mandates for leading US financial institutions.
She is a former Branch Chief at the SEC's Miami office where she managed the examination program for broker-dealers and transfer agents in Florida, Puerto Rico, Bermuda and the Caribbean. She conducted and supervised examinations of dually registered broker-dealers/investment advisors and hedge funds and had oversight for the NASD (now FINRA), Atlanta office and NYSE exams in the region. Earlier in her career, she was a Senior Examiner/Field Supervisor for the NASD in NY and CO.
Vivian also previously worked for a large insurance company in NY and had responsibility for maintaining regulatory compliance for the affiliated subsidiaries including the broker-dealer, investment advisor, proprietary mutual funds and variable insurance separate accounts.
Vivian has provided expert witness and litigation support in depositions and hearings to SEC and NASD enforcement attorneys and in private litigation. She is a trained FINRA arbitrator. She holds a B.B.A in International Finance and Marketing from the University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL. Vivian is a Wharton School of Business Certified Regulatory and Compliance Professional (CRCP).