Smarsh Appoints Alessandro Silva to Unite Commercial Strategy Across Business Units

Smarsh has appointed Alessandro Silva as Chief Growth Officer, a newly created role bringing its Enterprise, Corporate, Public Sector and Global Channel business units under one commercial strategy. The former ACI Worldwide executive will lead the company’s commercial approach as it expands across international markets.

Smarsh says the structure will speed decision-making and improve consistency in customer service while accommodating different industries, regions and regulatory requirements. The company links the change to growing digital communications volumes, AI-driven collaboration and regulatory complexity.

Silva joins from ACI Worldwide, where he served as Chief Revenue Officer. His responsibilities included the global commercial organisation, sales effectiveness, go-to-market strategy and customer success. He has also held senior sales and general management roles at Western Union, GE Capital and The Carlyle Group.

“My focus is turning our strengths into a connected commercial strategy that helps us serve customers more effectively and scale with greater speed and consistency,” said Silva.

The appointment follows a series of Smarsh product announcements in 2026, including Discovery Agent, MCP Server, AskSmarsh AI and MySearch Agent. The company also reports extending communications capture to Claude Enterprise, Amazon Bedrock and Google Workspace.

Shield Appoints Former HSBC Surveillance Head Michelle Clark to Shape AI Product Strategy

Shield has appointed Michelle Clark as Global Communications Surveillance Expert, bringing experience from HSBC into its product strategy for communications surveillance and risk governance. Clark will help shape the company’s AI development and support customers’ adoption of its technology.

Clark brings more than 20 years of global banking experience, including as Global Head of Communications Surveillance Capability at HSBC. Her background covers communications and trade surveillance, model governance, financial crime controls and the application of emerging technologies to compliance.

Her previous work includes regulatory transformation, surveillance modernisation and the development of risk-control strategies across global banking operations. She has led multinational transformation programmes, built global teams and developed operating models. She has also worked with regulators and senior banking executives on the application of AI, machine learning and cloud technology in regulated environments.

Shield provides digital communications governance and archiving technology for financial institutions. The company said Clark would help connect compliance requirements with its AI product strategy as customers set their priorities for 2027. It identified communications complexity and demand for explainable risk controls as areas informing that work.

“Her expertise will help financial institutions get more from our platform and ensure it addresses the real-world challenges compliance organizations face,” said Eran Noam, Co-Founder and Chief Business Officer at Shield.

Clark pointed to the operational pressures facing surveillance teams as a focus for her role. “Having spent more than two decades working inside global financial institutions, I’ve seen firsthand the challenges surveillance teams face as communications grow more complex, regulatory expectations evolve and AI reshapes the way institutions manage risk,” she said.

“I want to help surveillance teams act with confidence and run surveillance programs that are effective, explainable and trusted by institutions and regulators alike.”

The appointment accompanies Shield’s work on agentic orchestration and Model Context Protocol (MCP) integration. The company said Clark’s expertise would help shape this development.

Behavox Appoints Former Macquarie Surveillance Head Rich Ziegenbalg as Executive Advisor

Behavox has appointed former Macquarie Group surveillance head Rich Ziegenbalg as Executive Advisor, adding three decades of banking experience to its work with compliance and surveillance teams.

Ziegenbalg will advise Behavox customers and prospective clients on surveillance target operating models, control frameworks and programme maturity. He will also contribute to the company’s regulatory strategy, industry engagement and product positioning.

He joins from Macquarie, where he served as Global Head of e-Communications Surveillance. His previous positions include Global Head of Surveillance – Compliance at BNY Mellon and Global Head of Institutional Clients Group Compliance Surveillance at Citigroup.

Ziegenbalg has also held senior control roles at Morgan Stanley and Barclays Capital. At Morgan Stanley, he served as Global Head of Risk & Controls. His Barclays role covered front-office supervision.

The appointment gives Behavox access to a practitioner who has managed electronic communications, voice and trade surveillance, as well as front-office controls. His responsibilities will span external advisory work and internal guidance on the regulatory and operational requirements facing surveillance functions.

“What drew me to Behavox is the chance to bring that experience directly to compliance teams as they work through those decisions, whether that’s a customer thinking through their surveillance program design or a prospect trying to understand what good looks like,” Ziegenbalg said.

Behavox Chief Revenue Officer Nabeel Ebrahim said Ziegenbalg’s experience would inform discussions with customers about control design and surveillance operating models. It would also strengthen the company’s understanding of the priorities facing heads of surveillance, he added.

Behavox provides communications and trade surveillance, archiving and central control capabilities through nine connected products. The company describes the platform as providing a common record across communication channels, asset classes and jurisdictions.

The appointment follows Behavox’s expansion in 2026. The company opened an office in Milan in August after raising $175 million in preferred equity from HPS Investment Partners in June. Behavox said it now serves more than 120 financial institutions, including 70 global banks, a central bank and a national regulator. The company also said it has been profitable since 2024.

VoxSmart Adds Sales and Customer Engagement Leaders Following VX1 Launch

VoxSmart has appointed Royce Wilkie as Global Sales Director and Andy Faulknall as Head of Customer Engagement following the launch of its VX1 communications compliance platform.

Wilkie will lead the company’s sales activity across its target financial markets. He brings more than a decade of experience working with asset managers and investment banks on communications compliance requirements.

His appointment comes as financial institutions seek to capture and monitor communications across a growing range of channels. Wilkie said: “Financial institutions are dealing with a communications environment that is becoming more fragmented and more difficult to oversee.”

Faulknall joins after holding senior product and technology roles at HSBC. His new remit covers customer relationships and the development of strategic partnerships, bringing an institutional user perspective to VoxSmart’s product and engagement work.

The appointments follow the September launch of VX1, which combines mobile capture, communications surveillance, investigations, archiving, voice transcription and artificial intelligence-driven workflows within one platform.

VX1 represents VoxSmart’s move towards a unified platform for managing communications data and compliance workflows. The company is targeting investment banks, asset managers and other financial institutions seeking to reduce fragmentation between capture, surveillance and investigation systems.

Oliver Blower, chief executive of VoxSmart, linked the appointments to the company’s plans for the platform. “As we take VX1 to more financial institutions around the world, we need to be just as strong in how we engage with customers as we are in the technology we build,” he said.

Faulknall said his experience at HSBC had exposed him to the operational challenge of managing communications, technology and regulatory requirements across a large financial institution. His role will focus on incorporating that customer perspective into VoxSmart’s partnerships and the deployment of VX1.

Kaizen Appoints DTCC’s Sam North as Chief Product Officer

Kaizen has appointed Sam North as chief product officer (CPO) to lead the regulatory reporting assurance specialist’s product strategy and roadmap.

North joins Kaizen after more than 15 years at the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), where he most recently served as executive director, product management. His experience covers regulatory reporting, post-trade services, product development, digital transformation and the application of artificial intelligence within financial services.

Kaizen said North will oversee the development of a more connected and scalable platform. His remit includes making reporting insights easier for clients to access, investigate and act upon.

Michael Leach, CEO of Kaizen, said: “Sam brings an exceptional combination of deep regulatory reporting knowledge, extensive product experience and a strong understanding of the challenges our clients face.”

On the appointment, North said: “Kaizen has built a strong reputation for the quality of its regulatory reporting assurance and is trusted by many of the world’s leading financial institutions. I’m excited to be joining at such an important point in its growth.”

Hawk Appoints NICE Actimize Veteran to Lead Revenue Strategy

Anti-financial crime technology provider Hawk, has appointed Eli Chamoun as President and Chief Revenue Officer to lead its revenue strategy as it seeks to expand adoption of its artificial intelligence technology among banks and payment companies.

Chamoun will oversee Hawk’s global revenue strategy and operations, develop its go-to-market team and deepen relationships with banks, payment companies and partners. He previously spent 18 years at NICE Actimize, where he served as Global Vice President and Global Head of Sales.

Hawk is positioning the appointment around the governance and expansion of AI deployments in anti-money laundering (AML), screening and fraud prevention. The company says financial institutions are using machine learning, generative AI and agentic AI to improve crime detection and investigation.

Tobias Schweiger, CEO and Co-Founder of Hawk, said: “AI in anti-financial crime has reached an inflection point. Financial institutions are seeing positive results from AI deployments — these now need to be governed and scaled with confidence, especially as agentic AI capabilities and large language models continue to open fresh possibilities.”

Schweiger cited FinCEN’s proposed rule reforms as an indication that regulators will place greater emphasis on the effectiveness of AI-driven compliance.

Chamoun said the market needs AI-based platforms that can produce demonstrable operational results quickly while providing explainability across sectors and geographies. He also identified accurate detection and efficient investigation as important capabilities.

Hawk’s recent product work includes agentic AI for AML investigations. The company has also reported results from its partnership with Commerzbank, where it said its technology detected more novel money-laundering cases while increasing alert accuracy to reduce false positives.

Former Bank of America MD, Andee Schneider Joins Qomply

Regulatory intelligence and reporting specialist Qomply has strengthened its senior leadership team with the appointment of Andee Schneider as Managing Director, North America, adding capital markets sales, execution and client advisory experience as the firm looks to expand its presence across the Americas and APAC.

Schneider brings more than two decades of financial markets experience, including senior roles at Bank of America Securities, UBS Securities and Trading Technologies. She was previously Managing Director and Head of Sales and Execution for the Americas at Bank of America Securities, where she led a team focused on revenue and market share growth across futures, options and over-the-counter clearing.

Her appointment gives Qomply additional senior market-facing expertise at a time when financial institutions are under pressure to manage regulatory change while improving operational efficiency. In her new role, Schneider will advise Qomply on regional expansion, client engagement and the regulatory issues shaping financial institutions’ technology and compliance priorities.

Schneider’s background is closely aligned with consultative sales and regulatory education. Rather than focusing on product-led selling, she has worked with financial institutions on the operational impact of regulatory change and on how firms can prepare ahead of implementation deadlines. She has also been active in industry mentorship, previously serving as Co-Chair of the Women’s Leadership Committee Council at Bank of America.

“We are thrilled to welcome Andee to our team,” said Michelle Zak, Co-founder at Qomply. “Her decades of experience leading technical sales for some of the world’s largest financial institutions makes her an invaluable asset. Andee intimately understands the operational friction our clients face, and her global perspective will play a pivotal role as we continue to grow and innovate in the RegTech space.”

Schneider said: “I’m incredibly excited to be joining Qomply. There has been a definitive shift in focus within financial institutions; it is no longer just about returns, but also about operational excellence. Qomply’s leading tech coupled with its deep industry expertise present a unique opportunity to act as a helping hand for clients, staying ahead of regulator expectations. I look forward to working with the team to build on this momentum and help our clients future-proof their operations.”

Fenergo Names Lekshmi Nair as CRO

Client lifecycle management specialist Fenergo has appointed Lekshmi Nair as chief revenue officer to lead the global go-to-market organisation and commercial operations.

Nair previously worked at Finastra, formerly Misys, where she held roles in software development, delivery, platform sales and enterprise leadership before serving as global chief revenue officer for lending.

Based in London, Nair joins the executive leadership team and reports to the company’s executive structure to oversee growth and customer relationships.

FinregE Appoints Paul Lyon to Lead Marketing and Communications

End-to-end regulatory operating system FinregE has appointed Paul Lyon as chief marketing and communications officer, creating a new executive role as the company looks to sharpen its market positioning during a period of growth.

Based in London, Lyon will report to Rohini Gupta, chief executive officer, and lead FinregE’s communications, analyst relations, brand, marketing and digital strategy, including engagement with clients, partners, regulators, analysts and the media.

The appointment comes as FinregE seeks to scale its external engagement with financial institutions and corporates facing more complex regulatory requirements and growing demand for operational, machine-interpretable approaches to compliance and regulatory change management.

Lyon brings more than 20 years’ experience across financial markets, technology and corporate affairs. He joins from Wolters Kluwer, where he spent ten years in senior communications roles and most recently served as senior director, external communications: global branding, communications and marketing. In that role, he led an enterprise-wide team across the Euronext-listed group’s five divisions.

His earlier roles include head of communication and marketing and executive director, Europe and Middle East, at Daiwa Capital Markets, and head of key media, global banking and markets, at The Royal Bank of Scotland. Lyon began his career as a journalist and editor at financial publications including Risk.net, where he focused on regulatory developments.

Rohini Gupta, CEO of FinregE, said: “FinregE has evolved from agile innovator to the foundational infrastructure for global regulatory compliance and our engagement strategy must match the sophistication of our technology. Paul’s pedigree across global banking, regulatory technology and financial journalism gives him a unique vantage point to navigate the complex stakeholder landscape we operate in.”

She said Lyon’s role would support the company’s commercial scaling and help position FinregE with regulators, analysts and enterprise clients.

Lyon said: “Regulation is moving beyond interpretation and becoming embedded directly within operational workflows and decision-making processes. FinregE sits at the centre of that transition. I look forward to partnering with the Executive Leadership Team to articulate this vision and strengthen the company’s position as the market leader in AI-powered regulatory compliance technology.”

Lyon holds a BA from the University of Birmingham, won a scholarship at the University of California, Berkeley, and completed an MA in International Relations and Literature at the University of London. He has published books on risk management and lectured on financial communications and marketing strategy at postgraduate level.

Corlytics Appoints Lisa Miles-Heal as CEO to Drive Next Phase of Growth

Corlytics has appointed Lisa Miles-Heal as chief executive officer, effective June, as the Verdane-backed regulatory intelligence firm prepares for its next phase of international growth.

Miles-Heal brings nearly two decades of executive experience in technology-led businesses. Most recently, she oversaw the transition of accounting compliance company Silverfin from a founder-led business into a Visma group company. Her appointment gives Corlytics a CEO with experience in scaling specialist technology firms from smaller domestic markets into international businesses.

“Growing local champion technology businesses from smaller markets like Belgium and New Zealand into international success stories is something I’ve done before, and I see the same potential here,” Miles-Heal said. “Corlytics wins against slightly larger competitors by being better at what customers truly value – technology that solves hard problems, uncompromising quality and solution connectedness. The technology is proven, the client relationships are deep, and the market wants sophisticated AI enabled compliance solutions more than ever before. Working with our talented teams across the globe I’ll be making sure we capitalise on every bit of that.”

Founder Focuses on Product Leadership

The leadership change keeps founder John Byrne inside the executive team, with his role shifting towards product leadership while Miles-Heal takes on the chief executive remit.

Byrne has led Corlytics from an Irish start-up into a regulatory intelligence provider used by major financial institutions, with recent recognition as Category Leader in the 2025 Chartis RiskTech Quadrant for Regulatory Intelligence Solutions. His role will now concentrate on the company’s technology direction, while Miles-Heal focuses on commercial scale, customer growth and international expansion.

Byrne said: “This transition may come to be seen not simply as a handover, but as the moment Corlytics moved from category leader to enduring market force.”

Scaling Regulatory Intelligence and AI Governance

Corlytics says its platform is used by 40% of the world’s top 30 systemically important financial institutions. Its regulatory work includes an FCA programme to develop an intelligent regulatory handbook and a separate engagement with FINRA in the United States. The appointment comes as financial institutions place greater emphasis on regulatory intelligence, controls mapping and AI-enabled compliance workflows. Corlytics has positioned its platform around regulatory data assets, risk and controls use cases, and compliance tooling that can help firms manage regulatory change with stronger evidence trails.

The company also points to its ISO 42001 certification as part of its AI governance credentials, saying the certification aligns its platform with the EU AI Act, the US NIST framework and OECD principles.

Miles-Heal’s priorities will include increasing customer value from Corlytics’ regulatory data assets, extending AI across company operations and supporting further growth in risk and controls.

Nils Vold, Partner at Verdane, framed the appointment as a scaling move. “This transition is a natural evolution for a business that’s ready to scale, and we’re confident that Lisa is exactly the right person to lead that next phase. Her track record of growing technology businesses across international markets speaks for itself and we’re excited about what this team is going to achieve together. Corlytics has always been a flagship investment for us, and a big part of that is down to John. What he’s built at Corlytics is something we’re incredibly proud to have supported.”