John Sera Email & Phone Number

• Senior leader within Audit responsible for the US Wealth Management and the Private Banking and Investment Group businesses. Developed a reputation as a results focused leader with a relentless pursuit to innovate and.
• Drove the development of a method to perform custom reviews of the 500+ branch offices based on strategic risks to the bank.
• Partnered with business heads to implement a process to review the financial portfolios and strategies of Financial Advisors within the wealth management businesses. The idea was initially met with controversy and.
• Conceptualized and lead a specialized team focused on identifying emerging and anticipatory risk within the bank’s retail businesses (Global Wealth & Investment Management and Consumer.) The program was a great success.

Princeton, NJ

• Leveraged mentorship and relationship building to innovate the audit approach and effectively reduce the level of risk facing the Merrill Lynch Private Client business.
• Spearheaded creation of a model to assess and score risks at a branch office and financial advisor level that provided senior management the ability to forsee problems before they elevated into significant concerns.
• Pioneered a change from branch office level audits to a strategic risk approach that improved the control environment across the entire wealth management business.