On August 31, 2021, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced the nomination of Adrienne Harris as the Superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services – New York’s top financial regulator and a key regulator in the banking, anti-money laundering, fintech, insurance, and cryptocurrency spaces. Harris, whose nomination is still subject to confirmation, has diverse experience serving in both the private and public sector. Harris currently serves as a Professor of Practice at the University of Michigan’s Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. Harris also worked as Chief Business Officer and General Counsel for a San Francisco-based insurtech start-up.
Harris previously served at the U.S. Department of the Treasury as a Senior Advisor to both Acting Deputy Secretary and Under Secretary for Domestic Finance, Mary Miller, and Deputy Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin during the Obama Administration. She was later appointed Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy as part of the White House’s National Economic Council. In 2017 during her time in the Obama Administration, Harris co-published the White House’s “Framework for FinTech,” which served as the Obama Administration’s policy framework for the fintech ecosystem.
As noted by Governor Hochul, Harris’s experience “working with President Obama to help the nation forge a path forward in the aftermath of 2007’s Great Recession to her vast experience in the private sector helping ensure companies of all sizes act as good corporate citizens” will play a central role in her duties to oversee the banking and insurance industries of the state as well as help rebuild New York’s economy in the wake of the pandemic.
The Governor’s press release is available here.
For more information on regulations impacting financial services, sanctions, anti-money laundering, fintech, and cryptocurrencies, contact our team and see previous posts below.