Lecturer Bios
Donald Lopezi
Don Lopezi is Senior Vice President and Regional Director of FINRA’s West Region. The West Region consists of the District Offices located in Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle. The West Region is responsible for conducting examinations, investigations and ongoing surveillance of broker-dealers and registered persons located in the western half of the United States. Previously, Don was the District Director of the FINRA San Francisco District Office.
Prior to joining the San Francisco Office, Don was a Director of FINRA’s Examination EPG, among other things, authored and maintained examination policies and procedures used by FINRA’s examination staff, coordinated national special projects and initiatives, and oversaw the national examination program—the regulated firm-focused examination and surveillance activities conducted by FINRA’s Member Regulation Department. Don began his career as an Examiner in NASD’s Denver District Office in 1992 and, after serving as a Supervisor in the Denver District Office, joined the Washington, DC, office in September 2003. He graduated from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a B.S. degree in Accounting, and received his MBA from the University of Colorado at Denver.
Brad Busscher
Brad Busscher is the Corporate Secretary, Chief Administrative Officer and General Counsel of Incapital Holdings LLC and its subsidiaries (“Incapital”). Incapital is an institutional sales and trading, asset management and investment banking firm based in Chicago with offices in Boca Raton and New York. Incapital’s core business centers around the offer and distribution of new issue fixed income securities and CDs and structured notes and structured CDs through over 800 broker-dealers, investment advisers, institutions and banks. With a diverse range of new issue and secondary market offerings, Incapital is engaged in the purchase and sale of corporate notes, Agencies, CDs, MBS and structured notes and CDs, designed for both individual and institutional investors. Mr. Busscher is a member of Incapital’s Executive and Management Committees. Following graduation from law school, he worked as a litigation associate in a Miami, Florida based law firm. Upon leaving private practice, he accepted a position in the Enforcement Division of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). During his tenure at the SEC, he was promoted to Chief, Branch of Enforcement and was responsible for managing a team of enforcement attorneys. After leaving the SEC, Mr. Busscher was one of the first attorneys hired by Kemper Securities, Inc., a national, full-service securities firm created by Kemper Corporation following the consolidation of five regional securities brokerage firms. His initial responsibilities included arbitrating customer and employee disputes and he arbitrated numerous such disputes across the country. While at Kemper Securities Inc., Mr. Busscher assisted with an employee led buyout of the firm wherein the firm was re-named EVEREN Securities, Inc. and subsequently taken public. Mr. Busscher was promoted to Senior Vice President and provided legal support to several areas within the firm including Compliance, Human Resources and Capital Markets and managed the firm’s material litigation and regulatory matters, including the NASDAQ Anti-Trust and yield burning litigation. After EVEREN Securities, Inc. was sold to First Union Securities (now Wells Fargo Securities, LLC), Mr. Busscher joined Van Kampen Investments, a unit of Morgan Stanley. While at Van Kampen, he served as Senior Vice President and was responsible for coordinating all regulatory requests and examinations. He also supervised compliance personnel responsible for the firm’s distribution company, transfer agent and marketing and advertising functions. Mr. Busscher most recently served as Executive Vice President, Senior Managing Director, Corporate Secretary and General Counsel of Mesirow Financial, a diversified financial services firm headquartered in Chicago. With over 1,200 employees, Mesirow Financial engages in a wide array of financial services including retail and institutional securities brokerage, trading, investment banking, public finance, traditional and non-traditional asset management (including private equity and hedge fund-of-funds products), insurance brokerage, and consulting services. In addition to serving on Mesirow Financial’s Executive Committee and serving as Secretary to the Board of Directors, he was responsible for the firm’s legal, compliance, human resources and internal audit functions. Mr. Busscher obtained a BA degree from Cornell University, a JD degree from the University of Miami and an MBA degree in finance and accounting from the University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business. He recently completed his tenure a as Director of the National Society of Compliance Professionals and is a frequent speaker on regulatory and compliance issues. Mr. Busscher also wrote a chapter for Modern Compliance, published in 2015 by Wolters Kluwer, entitled “Corporate Transactions: The Role of Compliance.”
Donna DiMaria
Donna DiMaria launched Tessera Capital Partners, LLC (“Tessera”) in March 2004. Tessera is an independent third party marketing firm representing both traditional and alternative investment strategies to institutional investors and financial intermediaries. The firm is a member of FINRA and SIPC. Tessera also operates as a State Registered Investment Adviser and is registered as a Municipal Advisor with the SEC and MSRB. Ms. DiMaria is the founder of the firm and serves as the company’s CEO and CCO. In this role she oversees the firm’s compliance function and handles all of Tessera’s due diligence. Prior to Tessera, Ms. DiMaria was the Director of Consultant Relations at WestAM where she also oversaw the firm’s marketing support functions. Prior to joining WestAM, Ms. DiMaria was a Vice President at Forstmann-Leff International where she was responsible for US Consultant Relations and Institutional Sales. Before Forstmann-Leff, she was a Marketing Analyst and Fixed Income Product Specialist at UBS Asset Management. Prior to moving her career to the investment management industry, Ms. DiMaria was employed as an Investment Banking Analyst at Kidder Peabody and a MBS/ABS Accountant at Prudential Securities. Ms. DiMaria received a Bachelor of Science degree with a concentration in Finance from Binghamton University in May 1988. She graduated as a Stern Scholar with a Masters of Business Administration degree in Finance in May 1999 from NYU’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business. Ms. DiMaria is the Chairman and Treasurer of the Third Party Marketers Association (“3PM”), she was also formerly the President of 3PM, a position she held for more than 5 years. She currently sits on FINRA’s Membership Committee, is a member of the National Society of Compliance Professionals (“NSCP”), and a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, the premier honor society recognizing academic excellence in business studies. She holds the Series 7, 24, 63, 65, 79 and 99 licenses and recently sat for the Series 50 pilot examination.
Mark Quinn, Esq.
Mark Quinn is the Director of Regulatory Affairs for Cetera Financial Group, the corporate parent of a group of broker-dealers and Registered Investment Advisors with more than 9,000 representatives located across the United States. In that role, he has responsibility for a team of professionals handling matters including regulatory examinations, inquiries, and investigations for all of those entities. Prior to joining Cetera, Mr. Quinn was the Chief Risk Officer of First Allied Securities, Inc., and previous to that, Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Royal Alliance Associates. In those roles and in private law practice, he has focused on representation of broker-dealers, investment advisers, and registered representatives in arbitration, litigation, and regulatory matters. Mr. Quinn is a frequent speaker at legal and securities industry conferences on topics relating to sales and distribution of securities and provision of investment advisory services. He is the Chairman of the Compliance Council of the Financial Services Institute, Chairman of the Retirement Plans and Tax Regulatory Committee of the Insured Retirement Institute, and a member of the District Committee for FINRA District No. 2. Mr. Quinn holds a B.S. in Finance from Arizona State University and M.B.A. and J.D. degrees from the University of Denver, and is a member of the Colorado, New York, and Florida bars.