Lecturer Bios
Amy C. Sochard
Amy C. Sochard is the Senior Director in FINRA’s Advertising Regulation Department. The department protects investors by ensuring broker-dealer members of FINRA use advertisements and other sales communications that are fair, balanced and not misleading. Ms. Sochard leads the department’s investigative and targeted examination activities. She also serves as liaison to other FINRA departments involved in examinations, including the departments of Enforcement and Member Regulation.
In addition, Ms. Sochard oversees staff dedicated to the routine review of advertisements and other sales communications filed with the department by broker-dealers. Ms. Sochard assists in the development of rules and interpretations for communications with the public and social media, and she routinely speaks at industry events on these topics. Prior to joining FINRA’s predecessor (NASD),
Ms. Sochard worked with a real estate syndication firm in Washington, DC. She received a bachelor’s degree with distinction in English from the University of Virginia and studied poetry writing at Columbia University.
Stephen Bard
Stephen R. Bard is Senior Vice President, and Wells Fargo's Wealth and Investment Management’s Director of Social Media and Communications Compliance. He leads the oversight of the Firm’s communication policies and procedures for their traditional, bank brokerage, and independent Broker Dealer/Investment Adviser dual registrants. With more than 25 year’s industry experience, he is responsible for managing the development and implementation of a risk-based compliance program to meet federal, state, agency, legal and regulatory requirements.
His team annually reviews 75,000 pieces of communications including Digital Marketing submissions from social media, mobile and e-communications. He is currently a participant on FINRA’s Public Communications Committee; and was a member of their Social Media taskforce, and participated in their BrokerCheck hyperlink working group. In addition to communication related issues, he provides guidance on tools, software, Privacy and Books and Records requirements.
Shayna Beck, Esq.
Head of Retail Advertising and Communications at Vanguard Past Associate Counsel/Manager at Vanguard, Compliance Analyst at Vanguard, Actuarial Manager at Vanguard Education Widener University School of Law, Pennsylvania State University
Sheelagh Howett
Sheelagh Howett is Chief Risk Officer at Cantella & Co., Inc. She is on the Board of Directors and shares leadership responsibility with the executive management team for overseeing the growth and success of the firm. She focuses on keeping clear and regular communication between business units and compliance within the firm. She strongly believes that risk is an enterprise-wide responsibility and has created a risk-aware culture including an understanding that risk prevention is everyone’s job.
She continually works to further develop risk-management processes to identify, assess, and respond to the inevitable risks that face our industry. At the same time, she works to improve the efficiency and integration of existing processes into daily routines so they become ingrained in the firm's business.
Ms. Howett is an active member of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, the New England Broker/Dealer Investment Advisor Association, and the Women in Pensions Network. Originally from Ireland, Ms. Howett earned a BA in Banking and Finance at University College in Dublin. She holds FINRA Series 7 and 24 licenses.
