John E. Pinto, a 29-year veteran and senior official of market regulation at the National Association of Securities Dealers, has left the organization to run the Washington branch of Dover International, an Atlanta-based consulting firm.
Pinto had most recently served as an executive vice president of member regulation at NASD Regulation, the NASD subsidiary headed by Mary Shapiro. NASD Regulation was created two years ago in the wake of two governmental investigations of Nasdaq.
"I saw a significant change happening in the organization" Pinto said. "Mary Shapiro was bringing in her own people. I felt it was time for me to move on."
Pinto joins Dover as an executive vice president and president of Dover's Financial Services Exchange, a subsidiary that specializes in mergers and acquisitions. He is currently the sole employee at Dover's Washington outpost. His compensation includes an equity stake in the firm.
Pinto had a high-profile NASD career. Pinto joined the organization in New York in 1969, gaining prominence as an examiner. He moved to the NASD's main office in Washington in 1975, serving separately as a director of enforcement, vice president of surveillance and senior vice president of compliance.
In 1989, Pinto was named executive vice president of regulation at the NASD, responsible for all enforcement, examination and surveillance at the organization. As executive vice president, Pinto supervised all regional attorneys and oversaw all advertising, compliance, corporate financing, enforcement and market-surveillance departments of the 14 NASD district offices. He was named executive vice president at NASD Regulation in 1996.
"Dover may not be the most well-known consulting firm," Pinto said of his move, "but it had a wide range of clients and services and it allowed me to stay in Washington."
Pinto's said his first task at Dover is to build a strategic presence for the firm in the nation's capital. He plans to hire staff this year for the branch.
In a prepared statement, Harris Hobby, a managing director at Dover, said, "John is one of the leading national experts on securities regulation, compliance and market surveillance."
"His enormous depth of knowledge, his reputation for integrity and the respect he earned over his remarkable NASD career make him an outstanding addition," Hobby added. "We are extremely pleased."
