Gerri Alfino
Gerri Alfino is a C-level executive and trusted strategic adviser to the CEO and Board of Directors, with strong business acumen and US/international legal experience in the financial services industry. She has hands-on leadership ability to build, turn around, and reorganize businesses to mitigate risk, drive revenue and optimize efficiency across both robust and volatile business cycles. Gerri is well regarded for distilling complex business issues into creative, pragmatic, and actionable solutions; building and navigating diverse stakeholder relationships; and developing high-performance teams.
Most recently, Gerri was a Managing Director at West LB AG (now known as Portigon AG), where she was called upon to revamp the compliance profile of its asset management subsidiary (overseeing over USD 30 billion in fixed income assets) in light of certain identified weaknesses and, having done so, brought the subsidiary successfully through an SEC audit. Additionally, she directed the workout and satisfactory resolution of the defaulted financing of an industrial waste treatment facility in Chile, the management through bankruptcy and foreclosure of mixed-use commercial and residential property in Aspen, Colorado, and the contracted-for sale of a portfolio of private equity fund holdings.
Prior to joining West LB in 2004, Gerri was General Counsel at Assured Guaranty Corp., a NYSE-traded financial guaranty company, overseeing management of all legal, regulatory and compliance issues. She was also a member of the Executive Committee, responsible for management policy and strategic planning. There, having been recruited by the company’s owner, ACE Ltd., she built an entire legal staff, and spearheaded the conversion of its platform from that of a NY-only reinsurer to the diverse financial services platform spun off to the public. Initiatives included successfully implementing and executing a 50-state licensing program in the US, establishing an off-shore reinsurer and a derivatives company, as well as establishing and licensing a UK insurer and UK derivatives platform, “passporting” those licenses throughout key European jurisdictions.
Gerri was General Counsel at CGA Investment Management, Inc. where she directed legal and compliance issues for the SEC-registered investment adviser affiliated with an off-shore Bermuda-based financial guaranty insurer, specializing in the provision of credit enhancement to structured finance transactions and to special purpose investment vehicles investing in structured securities. Earlier career roles included VP and Legal Counsel positions at Credit Lyonnais and West LB, and Associate positions at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Dewey Ballantine.
Gerri graduated with a Juris Doctor degree from Fordham University School of Law, and received a Bachelor of Arts from the State University of New York.