Johanna Melendez
United States
Summary
Experienced Compliance Specialist with over 24 years of expertise, supporting Client Services, Portfolio, Trading, and Project Management at a leading Investment Advisory Firm and Broker-Dealer. Experience includes creating and monitoring investment guidelines, policies, and procedures to ensure compliance across a diverse range of investment vehicles including Institutional separate accounts, commingles trusts, mutual funds, UCITS, and hedge funds demonstrating comprehensive knowledge of regulatory compliance in the financial industry.
Overview
24
24
years of professional experience
Work History
Compliance Associate
Telsey Advisory Group
New York, NY
04.2023 - 03.2024
- Conducted OFAC/AML reviews for Investment Banking transactions and new account openings, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and internal policies
- Managed the Due Diligence review of the Firm's Third-Party Vendors, assessing risks and implementing necessary controls
- Reviewed and approved Public Appearances to ensure compliance with required disclosures, WSP, and communication with the public requirements
- Performed Email and Trade Surveillance reviews to identify and address any potential compliance issues
- Managed the Firm's Restricted List to ensure adherence to compliance regulations
- Supported Head of Operations and Trading with trade matching, allocations, and other operational tasks, ensuring accuracy and compliance
- Onboarded new employees, providing training on compliance policies and procedures
- Managed Gifts and Entertainment policy, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements and ethical standards
Compliance Business Analyst
Jennison Associates, LLC
New York, NY
10.2015 - 01.2023
- Managed projects and served as the primary liaison between Compliance and Technology teams, ensuring adherence to procedures and regulatory requirements
- Analyzed data and communicated key testing results to upper management, reducing operational risk
- Developed training materials and provided training sessions to end-users, improving efficiency within the group
- Developed, planned, and executed thousands of user acceptance test cases to ensure quality assurance and reduce data quality issues by more than 90%
- Performed data analysis related to compliance process/workflows to identify gaps and inefficiencies and recommended solutions
- Responsible for documenting compliance deficiencies discovered during testing using the firm's tracking application
- Maintained weekly metrics of work completed and obstacles for impact analysis and reporting.
- Assisted in collecting and analyzing data to support internal and regulatory audits
Senior Compliance Analyst
Jennison Associates, LLC
New York, NY
03.2004 - 10.2015
- Collaborated with Legal, Client Services, and Portfolio Managers to negotiate investment guidelines during the onboarding account process, ensuring compliance and effective communication of compliance-related issues and solutions with clients
- Reviewed client documents, including investment management agreements, investment policy statements, mutual fund prospectuses, and SAI documents, to interpret and code investment restrictions
- Performed daily pre- and post-trade monitoring of client investment guidelines for over 300 accounts, reporting breaches accurately and promptly and following through to resolution
- Prepared Ad hoc, monthly, quarterly client, and mutual fund compliance reports
- Reviewed Initial Public Offerings, Secondary Offerings, and Special Purpose Acquisition Company Offerings for client suitability and conflicts of interest, mitigating risks effectively
- Developed standard operating policies and procedures to manage the handling of Material Non-Public Information and other Enterprise-Level Restricted Lists
- Oversaw and maintained all internal documentation related to compliance processes within the compliance system, ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements
- Created and organized training materials to educate and train new employees on compliance policies, procedures, and system usage
- Assisted in collecting, researching, and analyzing data to support internal and regulatory audits, ensuring compliance with industry standards
- Played an integral role in implementing the firm's proprietary compliance system, providing expertise in guideline interpretations, rule creation, and parallel testing
Compliance Analyst
Jennison Associates, LLC
New York , NY
10.1999 - 03.2004
- Oversaw the firm's Personal Trading Policy and ensured that all employee trades were executed in accordance with the firm's Code of Ethics Policy
- Detected, researched, and documented violations of the firm's Code of Ethics and employee Personal Trading Policy
- Reviewed daily email and trade surveillance reports to detect and monitor for Material Non-Public Information
- Managed the handling of the firm's watch and restricted list
- Automated the manual reconciliation process of matching employee security transactions against Broker Statements and Trade Confirmations
- Lead orientation meetings with new hires regarding the Code of Ethics, employee trading policies, and procedures
- Oversaw and created Proxy Voting guidelines to ensure ballots were voted in accordance with the firm's Proxy Voting Policy
- Performed Regulatory filing of 13F and 13G reports required by the Securities and Exchange Commission
- Assisted in responding to information requests from both internal and external sources related to personal trading or proxy voting activity
- Promoted from Junior Compliance Assistant to Compliance Administrator effective October 2002 and to Senior Compliance Analyst in 2004
Education
Bachelor of Arts - Criminal Justice
University At Albany
Albany05.1999
Skills
- Compliance Monitoring and Auditing
- Data Analysis and Risk Assessment
- Business Analysis
- Strategic Thinking
- Problem-Solving
- Project Management
- Training and Development
- User Acceptance Testing
- Excellent written and verbal communication
- Multi-tasking
- Regulatory knowledge
Timeline
Compliance Associate
Telsey Advisory Group
04.2023 - 03.2024
Compliance Business Analyst
Jennison Associates, LLC
10.2015 - 01.2023
Senior Compliance Analyst
Jennison Associates, LLC
03.2004 - 10.2015
Compliance Analyst
Jennison Associates, LLC
10.1999 - 03.2004
Bachelor of Arts - Criminal Justice
University At Albany