Hearing Officer Biographies

Maureen A. Delaney

Chief Hearing Officer and Senior Vice President
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority

Maureen Delaney is the Chief Hearing Officer at FINRA. She has been a Hearing Officer in FINRA’s Office of Hearing Officers since 2009. Prior to joining the Office of Hearing Officers, she served as Senior Counsel in FINRA’s Department of Enforcement in Washington, D.C. Before joining FINRA, Ms. Delaney was a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, Commercial Litigation Branch. She received her law degree from the Washington College of Law, American University, and a B.S. degree from the University of Delaware. Ms. Delaney is a Certified Regulatory and Compliance Professional through the FINRA Institute at Wharton, University of Pennsylvania. She also is a Fulbright Scholar who taught courses pertaining to the U.S. legal system in South America. She is admitted to practice law in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Delaware.

Carla Carloni

Deputy Chief Hearing Officer and Vice President
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority

Before joining the Office of Hearing Officers in 2014, Carla Carloni served for more than 20 years as legal counsel to FINRA’s National Adjudicatory Council (“NAC”). She advised the NAC in adjudicated matters, including appeals of Hearing Panel decisions, statutory disqualification determinations, membership cases, and exemption requests. Ms. Carloni also represented FINRA as legal counsel before the SEC and in other appeals. Before joining FINRA, she began her legal career as a law firm associate practicing civil litigation. She attended law school at the College of William and Mary in Virginia and holds a B.A. from Fairfield University in Connecticut. She is admitted to practice law in Virginia.

Matthew Campbell

Hearing Officer
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority

Matthew Campbell has been a FINRA Hearing Officer since December 2008, after serving as Counsel in the Legal Section of FINRA’s Market Regulation Department. Before joining FINRA, he was a prosecutor in the Office of the State’s Attorney first in Montgomery County and then Howard County, Maryland. A member of the Maryland State Bar Association, Mr. Campbell serves on the Maryland Pattern Criminal Jury Instructions Committee and the Criminal Law and Practice Section Council. He received a B.A. from Pomona College, an M.A. in education from the Catholic University of America, and a J.D. from the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University. Mr. Campbell also taught high school and served in the Urban Teacher Corps and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Philippine Islands.

Michael J. Dixon

Hearing Officer
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority

Before joining the Office of Hearing Officers, Michael Dixon was a Senior Counsel in FINRA’s Department of Enforcement for five years and Counsel in the Legal Section of the Department of Market Regulation for seven years. Before joining FINRA, Mr. Dixon was in private practice in Washington, D.C. He received a B.A. from the College of William and Mary and an M.A. in Foreign Affairs from the University of Virginia, and attended law school at the George Washington University National Law Center. He is admitted to the bars of Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.

Bruce E. Kasold

Hearing Officer
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority

Bruce Kasold joined the Office of Hearing Officers in 2020. He has over 20 years of service as a Board Member, including Vice Chair, of a major financial institution, and he is a retired federal judge, including service as Chief Judge. A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, he also served over 20 years in the U.S. Army, including service as prosecutor, defense counsel, and legal advisor to the Army Secretariat on Inspector General investigations and highly classified matters. Prior to his appointment as a federal judge, Mr. Kasold also worked as a commercial litigation attorney for a national law firm, followed by service as the Chief Counsel for the Senate Rules Committee and the Offices of the Senate Secretary and Sergeant at Arms. Mr. Kasold earned a JD from the University of Florida and an LLM from the Georgetown University, and he is admitted to the bars of Florida and the District of Columbia.

Lucinda O. McConathy

Hearing Officer
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority

Prior to becoming a FINRA Hearing Officer in 2011, Lucinda O. McConathy was a partner at a law firm where she represented plaintiffs and defendants in securities fraud litigation and respondents in SEC and FINRA enforcement matters for more than 10 years. Prior to that, she was a senior appellate litigator for the Securities and Exchange Commission, dealing with the securities laws, arbitration, and administrative law before federal courts of appeals. She also worked with the Office of the Solicitor General on U.S. Supreme Court cases involving the SEC or the securities laws. Ms. McConathy also was a partner at a law firm practicing antitrust law. She graduated from Wellesley College and the University of Chicago School of Law.

Richard Simpson

Hearing Officer
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority

Richard Simpson began his service as a FINRA Hearing Officer in November 2015. Before that, he was a litigation and trial attorney for 26 years in the Division of Enforcement of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He launched his legal career as a law firm associate in commercial litigation. He earned a B.A. degree in History and Political Science from Washington University in St. Louis and a J.D. degree from Northwestern University School of Law.

David R. Sonnenberg

Hearing Officer
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority

David R. Sonnenberg joined FINRA’s Office of Hearing Officers in 2013, after spending the previous 17 years in FINRA’s Department of Enforcement. While in Enforcement, Mr. Sonnenberg held various senior positions including Vice President/Head of Litigation and Chief Counsel. Before joining FINRA, he was a litigation partner in private practice and also served as a staff attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement. Mr. Sonnenberg received his B.A. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania, and his J.D. from the University of Maryland School of Law.