Michael Gaquin is a seasoned Risk and Compliance executive with experience in the financial services and private equity industries managing issues from the tactical to the board governance level and from the emergent to the long-term strategic. He excels at enterprise-level strategic development and implementation, resulting in improved shareholder value. Expert at assessing organizational governance structures and implementing long term sustainable improvements. Mike is known for building and leading strong, diverse, collaborative teams combining a depth of expertise.
Broad Expertise With:
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Risk oversight of multi-national organizations, integrating processes, policies, and culture.
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Board of Directors and Audit and Risk Committees, both as frequent presenter and as a board member.
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Regulatory risk, including Compliance Officer of Registered Investment Advisers, Office of Foreign Asset Control, Government Anti-Corruption, and international privacy laws.
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Organizational governance assessment, planning and execution.
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Global strategic development and implementation.
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Leadership of divisions and organizations as large as 500 staff.


Michael D. Gaquin
// GLOBAL EXECUTIVE
// ENTERPRISE RISK
// ORGANIZATIONAL DEVELOPMENT
// BOARD GOVERNANCE
Phone:
(617) 275-1948
Email:
Address:
7 Taber Hill Rd,
North Smithfield, RI 02896
EXPERIENCE
Click on the arrow for more details and acheivements
2014-Present
Managing Principal
RUSKIN PARTNERS, Boston MA
Serves as a chief consultant and business development principal for Ruskin Partners, an executive consulting services firm whose practice includes financial services, professional services firms, biotechnology and venture capital firms. Ruskin Partners provides executive consulting services offering a wide range of business solutions and program management expertise partnering with clients to improve risk identification, assessment, management and
transparency.
2007-2014
Senior Vice President, Risk Management –
Chief Risk Officer, Devonshire Investors
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS, Boston MA
Responsible for the development, implementation, and leadership of the Devonshire Investors risk program, coordinating risk management and compliance activities across the entire portfolio; Established and led a team of specialists to oversee, within their individual subject matter expertise, the development, implementation, and oversight of risk programs.
2001-2007
Vice President, Enterprise Business Continuity, Fidelity Risk Oversight
FIDELITY INVESTMENTS, Boston MA
Responsible for overseeing the development, implementation, and maintenance of the firm-wide business continuity program, including program strategy, alternate site readiness, and firm-wide event management, including all communications to the Board of Trustees on all matters related to business continuity.
Previous Fidelity Roles
Vice President, Group Risk Management
Vice President, Global Risk Oversight
Various roles throughout trading, money market management, and fund accounting
Boards and Associations
Executive Board Member – Community Work Services (CWS): Founded in 1877, CWS helps people who face barriers to work obtain employment and achieve greater self-sufficiency through innovative job training, placement and support services.
Global Association of Risk Professionals (GARP)
Accomplished public speaker – both internal and external audiences on a variety of financial services and risk management subjects
SKILLS

Enterprise Risk Governance
Framework / Tools / Templates
Continuity Program Management
Crisis / Disaster Recovery Plan
Asset Protection / Management
Executive Global Enterprise Strategist
Capital & Regulatory Adherence
Board Level Acumen
Organizational Due Diligence
Program Assessment / Development
EXPERTISE
ENTERPRISE
RISK
REGULATORY
COMPLIANCE
BOARD
GOVERNANCE
CONTINUITY
CAPABILITY
DISASTER
RECOVERY
CRISIS
MANAGEMENT
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Directed the expansion and integration of the corporate disaster recovery program with the enterprise business continuity program resulting in a fully aligned, comprehensive enterprise-wide continuity solution.
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Established a consistent, coordinated, and integrated approach to application criticality assessments, recovery time objectives and fail-over protocols.
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Developed and oversaw a disaster recovery vendor management program including the development and implementation of policies and procedures, risk assessment protocols, evaluation and scoring criteria, escalation procedures and management reporting.
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Responsible for the integration of the data center disaster recovery program with the enterprise business continuity program including the alignment of recovery plans, criticality ratings, recovery time objectives and scenario analysis.
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Led a firm-wide event management initiative designed to integrate the existing multiple, varied, and fragmented event management processes into a coordinated firm wide model providing consistency in communication, actions, and remedies. Involved establishing a consistent, coordinated, and integrated approach to continuity scenario analysis to achieve optimized risk mitigation.
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Led the crisis management efforts focused on the life safety concerns and business impact associated with a myriad of incidents including the Tunisian Revolution (2010-2011), Japan Earthquake (2011), and Boston Marathon Bombing (2013). Responsible for command and control, the deployment and coordination of shelter-in-place protocols, extraction resources, relocation efforts and internal communications.
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Led the firm wide response to the recovery efforts associated with the devastating business impacts suffered as a result of the attacks of September 11, 2001. Responsible for firm wide command and control, the deployment and coordination of recovery resources, and both internal and external communication protocols.
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Responsible for the development, implementation, and leadership of the Devonshire Investors risk program, coordinating risk management and compliance activities across the entire portfolio. Established and led a team of specialists to oversee, within their individual subject matter expertise, the development, implementation, and oversight of risk programs.
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Led the successful effort to direct the evaluation of risk management capability for each operating company, assessing practises, technology, and tools. As a result, providing solutions, including risk planning protocols and tools, risk policy and standards, and tools for assessing, identifying, prioritizing, and mitigating top risks.
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Directed the implementation and management of cross-portfolio risk programs, including Government Anti-Corruption, Information Security, Due Diligence, Investigations, Business Continuity Planning, Privacy and Office of Foreign Asset Control, integrating broadly with Fidelity Investments' risk governance, as appropriate.
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Guided the execution of risk management-related protocols regarding operations continuity, security, technology, due diligence, and transitional services agreements during divestitures from the portfolio (e.g. HR Access Solutions, Boston Coach).
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Developed and managed a team of compliance professionals performing compliance policy development and implementation, trading oversight, training, monitoring of regulatory developments, FINRA registration and licensing activities, risk assessments and control program testing.
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Developed employee Compliance Handbook, monitoring tools and training material, and delivered annual compliance training.
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Oversaw and maintained written compliance policies and procedures to ensure compliance by the firm with relevant FINRA rules, SEC and federal securities and other applicable laws.
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Provided regulatory interpretation and guidance to internal and external constituencies, including employee, Legal, third-party legal, Corporate Compliance, and Treasury.
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Implemented monitoring and escalation programs for managing inside-information, conflicts of interest, outside activities, personal-trading, pre-clearance and e-communication monitoring of access persons.
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Oversaw investment managers' records management programs, including detailed records maps and retention schedules.
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Conducted regular and effective communication with appropriate regulatory agencies including the Securities and Exchange Commission, FINRA, Office of Foreign Asset Control, Treasury Department and Office of Homeland Security.
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Developed and oversaw Sub-advisor oversight program including annual assessment, control testing, recommended actions and report to the Board of Trustees.
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Responsible for all regulatory filings including but not limited to Form ADV and Form PF.
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Performed annual compliance program risk assessment including compliance control testing on an on-going basis and provided updates to the Board of Trustees and other constituencies as appropriate.
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Initiated independent custody oversight and oversaw mock SEC-exam of advisor's compliance program.
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Served as executive member of the Audit and Risk Committees of the Board of Directors for multiple operating companies, including ProBuild Holdings, FIML Natural Resources, and Forum Pharmaceuticals.
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Established and chaired the U.S. and International Devonshire Risk Committees, guiding senior risk managers and business leaders as top risks were analyzed, prioritized, and resourced. Best practices and lessons learned were shared.
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Directed all communications to the various portfolio company Boards and Fidelity Audit Committee on al matters related to risk and compliance for the companies comprising the Devonshire Investors portfolio.
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Established the Business Continuity Council (BCC), a cross company group of continuity planners designed to analyze top risks, exchange ideas and information, conduct incident reviews, and collaborate with business partners with a focus on risk interdependencies.
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Responsible for regular and ad-hoc communications to the Board of Trustees on all matters related to business continuity.
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Responsible for overseeing the development, implementation, and maintenance of the firm-wide business continuity program including program strategy, alternate site readiness, and firm-wide event management.
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Developed and managed a team of business continuity professionals performing policy and plan development and implementation, testing support and oversight, risk assessments and control program testing, training and monitoring of industry and regulatory developments.
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Performed annual business continuity program risk assessment including control testing on an on-going basis and provided updates to Board of Trustees and other constituencies as appropriate.
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Developed and implemented the post September 11, 2001 Global Continuity Strategy. The initiative included the establishment of risk-based planning assumptions, firm wide expansion of the alternate site portfolio, and broadening of firm wide event management protocols across all categories of risk.
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Established a consistent, coordinated, and integrated approach to continuity scenario analysis to ensure optimized risk mitigation.
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Directed the expansion of the corporate alternate site portfolio across all production regions including the establishment of a cross-discipline risk-based evaluation, selection, and implementation process.
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Oversaw and maintained written business continuity and disaster recovery policies and procedures to ensure compliance by the firm with relevant regulators including the SEC, NASD and other applicable laws.
REPRESENTATIVE CLIENTS





EDUCATION
1988
Master of Business Administration
SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY, Boston MA
1981
Bachelor of Arts, Economics
PROVIDENCE COLLEGE, Providence RI