Michael Held is recognized as a leading authority on corporate governance, having spent 24 years at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (New York Fed). Mr. Held joined the New York Fed as a staff attorney and rose through the ranks to become General Counsel and Executive Vice President. He has advised on matters involving access to Fed financial services and master accounts, as well as sanctions arising out of numerous international conflicts. Mr. Held has extensive experience handling a variety of banking and financial services regulatory issues, corporate investigations, enforcement, and litigation, and was a senior advisor to numerous Reserve Bank presidents and senior policy makers.

Mr. Held focuses his practice on the representation of financial institutions, providing strategic regulatory advice and crisis management guidance; advising on internal investigations and culture reviews; and supporting innovation within environmental, social and corporate governance and fintech business segments, particularly with respect to the evolving regulatory perimeter.

Mr. Held has been at the forefront of the New York Fed’s efforts to improve bank culture, having written and spoken extensively on the topic. He brings a practical, business-minded approach to his work, having served not just as a regulator but also as the senior executive over the New York Fed’s own Compliance Department, with responsibility for implementing effective risk-based compliance programs pertaining to anti-money laundering, anti-fraud, sanctions, privacy and ethics.

Mr. Held also played a key role in the New York Fed’s response to the industry’s two most significant financial crises during the past 15 years—the 2008 global financial crisis and the market turmoil resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, Mr. Held served on the New York Fed’s Executive Committee and was Deputy General Counsel of the Federal Open Markets Committee, the independent board governing the Federal Reserve System, which includes the Federal Reserve Governors and Reserve Bank presidents. He is also an Advisory Board Member for NYU Law Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement.