Lecturer Bios
Cynthia Friedlander
Cynthia Friedlander is the Director of Fixed Income Regulation within FINRA Member Regulation. Ms. Friedlander is responsible for directing FINRA’s policies and national programs related to fixed income securities, including related regulatory matters in FINRA District Offices. Specifically, she is responsible for the design, development and delivery of fixed income policy guidance to staff throughout FINRA, as well as to member firms, and is one of FINRA’s primary representatives in fixed income regulatory matters with the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
Ms. Friedlander represents FINRA at government agency, SRO, and industry and advisory meetings, and is a staff liaison to FINRA’s Fixed Income Committee. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and a master of business administration from George Mason University.
Michael L. Post, Esq.
Michael L. Post is General Counsel-Regulatory Affairs of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB), where he is a legal and policy advisor to the MSRB and its Board of Directors. He manages the development of regulations governing municipal securities dealers and municipal advisors in support of a fair and efficient municipal securities market. Prior to joining the MSRB in 2013 as Deputy General Counsel, Mr. Post served for more than 10 years at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. From 2007 to 2009, he was counsel to former Chairs Christopher Cox and Mary Schapiro, assisting with the development and implementation of an agency-wide regulatory agenda. In that capacity,
Mr. Post advised on a broad range of legal, policy and management issues arising primarily out of the Divisions of Trading and Markets and Enforcement as well as the Office of the General Counsel and Office of Municipal Securities. He also assisted with the SEC’s response to the financial crisis of 2008. From 2009 until 2013, Mr. Post served as a senior appellate litigator in the SEC Office of the General Counsel, representing the SEC in the Circuit Courts of Appeals and U.S. Supreme Court in matters arising out of rulemakings, enforcement actions and adjudications as well as the SEC’s amicus curiae program. He is a recipient of the Manuel F. Cohen Outstanding SEC Younger Lawyer Award from the Securities Law Committee of the Federal Bar Association. Earlier in his career, he was an associate in the Supreme Court and Appellate Litigation Group at Sidley, Austin, Brown & Wood LLP, and a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. Mr. Post earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a juris doctor, with high honors, from the George Washington University Law School, where he was a senior editor of the Law Review.
Michael Nouri, Esq.
Michael Nouri is Principal Analyst, Fixed Income Regulation within FINRA Member Supervision. Mr. Nouri is a key policy contact within FINRA for the coordination of fixed income securities regulation, examination, and enforcement. He also serves as a FINRA liaison to federal agencies and other SROs that regulate fixed income securities. Prior to joining FINRA, Mr. Nouri practiced as bond counsel for a regional law firm in Kansas City, Missouri where he advised municipalities on tax-exempt bond issuances and other transactions. He received a B.A. in Economics from Vanderbilt University and a J.D. from the University of Missouri – Kansas City.
Alexander Ellenberg, Esq.
Alex Ellenberg is Associate General Counsel in FINRA’s Office of General Counsel. Mr. Ellenberg works with others in the Office to develop and interpret FINRA rules and to provide legal and policy advice to FINRA management and staff. His work focuses in particular on matters related to market structure, market integrity, and order and trade reporting for equity, options, and fixed income securities. Mr. Ellenberg worked previously in the SEC’s Division of Trading and Markets and in private practice, and he received a J.D. from Cornell Law School and a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
