Susan Axelrod, former Finra regulator, lands at Merrill Lynch

Susan Axelrod, who resigned in January after 28 years with Finra and its predecessor, NYSE Regulation, has landed at Merrill Lynch Wealth Management as the chief supervisory officer. Ms. Axelrod, 53, who was the executive vice president of regulatory operations at Finra, will join Merrill in May and will report to Andy Sieg, head of the wealth management business. She will be part of Merrill's senior leadership team. Ms. Axelrod is replacing Michelle Carter, who vacated the position earlier this month for a newly created role leading business planning, governance and controls at U.S. Trust. According to an announcement from Merrill Lynch, Ms. Axelrod's job will include advancing the "supervisory risk culture by driving shared accountability for end-to-end supervision at all levels of leadership." Ms. Axelrod will also be charged with leading Merrill's activities around regulatory, financial and reputational risk. The division supervision executives, central supervision principals and their teams will report to Ms. Axelrod. "I've built my career around protecting investors and I'm proud to be joining a firm focused on doing the right thing for clients and improving their financial lives," Ms. Axelrod said in a statement.