Employee Spotlight: Technical Implementation’s Compliance Experts
Charles River Development is committed to providing clients with expert technical support for implementation of our products and services. Meet selected members of our Technical Implementation team – Amir Shokrollahi (AS), Director, Technical Implementation Services; Karrie Prehm (KP), Senior Compliance Implementation Manager; and Joy Nelson (JN), Compliance Implementation Manager – who help clients achieve a high level of return on their compliance technology investment.
What is your/your team’s role at Charles River and how do you add value for our clients?
(AS) I oversee a team of a dozen professionals who provide clients with high-quality consulting services both during and after implementations of the Charles River Investment Management System (Charles River IMS). Our goals are to: deliver maximum value and unparalleled support; maintain client relationships and trust; and provide service and new functionality that meets client needs.
Whether dealing with a new implementation or enhancing an existing process, our approach is to build and engage the right team of client resources and Charles River experts. My role is to ensure that assigned consultants have a proper understanding of client needs, the appropriate skill sets and resources, and the support from colleagues, such as Engineering, to immediately address any client question.
Charles River’s compliance consultants are project managers with a holistic view of compliance implementations. They have in-depth knowledge of industry regulations, a thorough understanding of current and upcoming Charles River IMS features, as well as expertise in proper rule writing methodology.
(KP) Each member of our team is an experienced compliance professional who has been heavily involved in Charles River IMS compliance implementations. We understand the demands on a compliance department outside of day-to-day monitoring – regulatory examinations, audits, risk assessments, policy and procedure development, and reporting requirements. This experience, together with our in-depth knowledge of Charles River IMS, provides unparalleled value. We can help clients navigate around obstacles that can occur when implementing, upgrading, or maintaining the system.
(JN) I have a deep understanding of the variety of ways that clients implement and use Charles River’s compliance capabilities. If a client faces a challenge that is not unique to their organization, I help them leverage best practices from Charles River clients around the world. When a challenge is unique, I work closely with clients to develop solutions for their particular situation.
What is your professional background and how has it supported your current role?
(KP and JN) Each member of our team has at least 10 years of industry experience, with an emphasis on compliance. We understand buy-side firms’ demands and situations – leveraging our first-hand experience to advise clients on areas where we ourselves succeeded in addressing specific needs.
We have vast knowledge of global regulatory requirements and understand the concerns of organizations that are monitoring compliance either manually, through third-party vendors, or via home-grown systems. Further, we have all played key roles in implementing Charles River IMS – with a goal of minimizing risk, creating flexibility and improving efficiency.
(AS) As a former consultant/owner of a professional services company, I have always made client satisfaction the number one priority.
I have built and directed numerous teams of engineers and consultants for a variety of industries, including financial services. My background exposed me to complex business problems and how to identify and build the appropriate team of resources to address those problems.
What types of issues does your team address most often?
(KP and JN) Clients view us as trusted advisors, and we partner with them to minimize their risk exposure. We are seeing more and more clients implementing pre-trade compliance capabilities. Clients are also seeking our expertise as they approach new challenges such as mergers and acquisitions, adding new investment instruments, or implementing enterprise-wide restrictions regarding foreign shareholder disclosure.
(AS) Given the current uncertainty in the market, many of our clients are taking a more proactive approach to eliminating gaps that could cause issues during an examination or audit – leveraging our Compliance Health Checks to evaluate the state of their compliance practice and detect, correct, and prevent compliance breaches.
As part of a compliance audit, Charles River consultants review client processes, workflows, and rule libraries, outline findings and provide recommendations to improve accuracy and efficiency. Given their knowledge and level of expertise, Charles River’s experts are often asked by clients to help implement those recommendations, and to share their knowledge with in-house compliance resources.
We address client needs on a variety of levels – from simple rule writing that requires a few days, to building a compliance practice over a prolonged period of time – to ensure that the application provides the most benefit possible, and that the compliance practice is in-line with Charles River’s best practices.
What trends do you see on the horizon, and how will your team approach them?
(KP and JN) We expect significant changes in the regulatory environment, given the impact of the credit crisis on the derivatives and mortgage backed securities markets, and its influence on securities law administration. New rules may be set for derivatives and overall counterparty limitations. We also anticipate tighter risk tolerance controls following the US Government’s intervention and ownership in the private sector. We expect more requirements for transparency and greater government involvement in enforcing new rules.
We stay abreast of these changes to keep up with a dynamic regulatory environment – maintaining industry contacts, focusing on client needs and communicating with regulatory organizations. We then work closely with Charles River’s Support and Product teams to address and add new functionality that meets clients’ demands driven by new regulations.
(AS) As trends emerge Charles River responds by enhancing our product capabilities, such as the new functionality for credit default swaps and derivatives in Version 8.2. Further, we continue to expand and train our team of knowledgeable and experienced consultants who understand clients’ business needs and changing regulatory requirements.
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