Leadership

Uday Gulvadi is a Managing Director at Stout and a financial crimes, internal audit, and risk advisory leader with more than 20 years of experience across compliance, anti-money laundering (AML), financial crimes, and internal audit. He advises boards, audit committees, and senior management on complex governance, risk, and compliance matters, including enterprise risk management, AML and sanctions program governance, model validation, risk-based internal audit, and technology and cybersecurity controls.

Uday brings extensive international experience serving organizations across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. His clients have ranged from some of the world’s largest banks and financial institutions to smaller financial services organizations, FinTech companies, and digital asset and cryptocurrency firms. His work with financial services organizations has included helping develop and strengthen internal audit, enterprise risk management, AML and sanctions compliance programs, frameworks and controls.

Previously, Uday held partner and director positions within internal audit and risk management practices at national and regional accounting and advisory firms. He is also a past president and board member of the Institute of Internal Auditors, New York.

Michele Fleming is a financial services compliance executive and New York State licensed attorney with deep experience across global compliance, payments, regulatory matters, ethics, AML, sanctions, anti-bribery and corruption, privacy, compliance risk management, and governance.

A former C-suite Global Compliance Officer, Michele has worked within complex financial services environments ranging from start-up operations to a designated financial market utility settling more than $8 trillion equivalent daily across 18 currencies. Her experience gives her a broad perspective on building and strengthening compliance and governance frameworks within organizations at different stages of maturity.

Michele’s approach emphasizes close collaboration between compliance and the business, supported by strong governance foundations and fit-for-purpose compliance programs and controls. Throughout her career, she has focused on helping organizations clearly understand and own regulatory requirements while building trusted relationships across the three lines of defense, domestic and international regulators, senior management, and boards of directors.

She brings a combination of legal, regulatory, governance, operational, and strategic perspective to organizations navigating evolving compliance expectations.

Raul Garcia is a Director at PAAST, P.L., specializing in risk management, regulatory compliance, internal audit, and attestation services for financial institutions. He advises banks and other financial institutions on strengthening AML, BSA, sanctions, and broader compliance programs, with a focus on governance, risk management, regulatory expectations, and support for internal audit functions.

Raul is recognized for his expertise in assisting financial institutions with data analytics, model validations, and system calibrations designed to strengthen financial crimes compliance programs and align monitoring systems with regulatory expectations.

Raul has advised a broad range of financial institutions, from community and privately owned banks to large multinational organizations throughout the United States, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.

Raul holds a Bachelor of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Accounting from Florida International University. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA), Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), and Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS). He is an active member of the FICPA, ACAMS, and AIBACP, where he serves as a Board Member.

Jody van Geldern is a financial services legal and compliance professional with more than 35 years of experience providing legal and regulatory advice to financial institutions. Her career spans corporate lending, receivables and supply chain financing, letters of credit and trade finance, commercial paper and deposit products, cash management, and internet banking.

Throughout her career, Jody has designed and implemented corporate compliance and AML programs, including related risk assessments, methodologies, testing programs, and compliance training. Her regulatory experience includes BSA/AML, FCPA, GLBA, the USA PATRIOT Act, FinCEN requirements, corporate governance, and ethics.

Jody has extensive experience working with federal and state regulators, including the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Federal Reserve, and New York Department of Financial Services. She has held positions with U.S. law firms as well as legal and compliance roles within U.S. and European financial institutions.

Jody is a graduate of Wesleyan University and earned her J.D. from Fordham University School of Law and LL.M. from New York University School of Law.

Timothy Ku is an internal audit and compliance professional with extensive experience across international and U.S. banking organizations. Throughout his career, he has developed significant expertise in BSA/AML/OFAC compliance, regulatory compliance, internal audit management, risk and control analysis, regulatory and compliance issue identification, and remediation of control weaknesses within financial institutions.

His experience extends across a broad range of banking operations and control functions. Timothy has provided oversight related to commercial lending, deposit operations, accounting and regulatory reporting, treasury and investments, and human resources. He also brings experience in financial and credit risk analysis and underwriting for commercial and consumer lending.

This combination of audit, compliance, risk, and operational experience gives Timothy a broad perspective on the regulatory and control environments facing financial institutions.

Timothy is a Certified Public Accountant and Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist. He also earned the Certified Compliance & Regulatory Professional credential through Pace University’s CCRP program developed in partnership with AIBACP.

Steven Lewis is Deputy General Manager and Head of Compliance for Woori Bank’s New York Agency, where he manages the Agency’s Compliance Program supporting correspondent banking, trade finance, and lending activities. He brings extensive experience in BSA/AML/OFAC compliance, internal controls, business processes, regulatory matters, and financial crimes compliance.

Prior to joining Woori Bank, Steven served as a Senior Manager and Practice Leader within MazarsUSA’s GRC Banking practice, with a particular focus on BSA/AML/OFAC. In that role, he developed strategies to help financial institutions respond to regulatory issues and developments, including New York Department of Financial Services requirements, and provided internal audit and consulting services to help clients meet their regulatory obligations.

Steven has also held internal control roles within U.S. branches of foreign banks and began his career with Deloitte. He is a faculty member in Pace University’s Certified Compliance Regulatory Professional program and previously served as Chairman of AIBACP.

Steven earned his MBA in Finance, with distinction, from New York University’s Stern School of Business and his BBA in Accounting, summa cum laude, from Adelphi University.

Richard Pagnotta is Chief Compliance Officer of Interaudi Bank, supporting its New York and Miami offices. A highly seasoned compliance and regulatory professional, he brings extensive international banking experience with particular depth in BSA/AML, OFAC, corporate compliance, regulatory examinations, and the development and management of compliance programs for foreign and domestic banking organizations.

Prior to joining Interaudi Bank, Richard spent over 11 years with Itaú Unibanco S.A., where his leadership roles included Chief Compliance Officer, BSA Compliance Officer, Deputy General Manager, and Interim General Manager. During his tenure, he led significant compliance remediation and operational initiatives, including work associated with the transition of banking operations between New York and Miami.

Earlier in his career, Richard held senior compliance roles with China Merchants Bank, Eurohypo, CIBC World Markets, and Mizuho Corporate Bank. His experience includes developing compliance policies and procedures, risk assessments, testing and monitoring programs, regulatory and AML training, and automated AML controls.

Richard earned his Certified Compliance Regulatory Professional credential through Pace University and was among the pioneers involved in developing the program’s original curriculum in partnership with AIBACP.