The NYU School of Law Program on Corporate Compliance and Enforcement (PCCE) is delighted to announce that Cheryl James, Preston Pugh, and Michele Siano have joined PCCE’s Board of Advisors.
Left to right: Cheryl James, Preston Pugh, and Michele Siano (Photos courtesy of board members)
Cheryl James
Cheryl James is Vice President and Associate General Counsel at New York Life Insurance Company, where she leads legal teams responsible for employment, mergers and acquisition, intellectual property, technology and strategic sourcing transactions, privacy, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence. Cheryl is also Chief of Staff to New York Life’s Chief Legal and Administrative Officer. Prior to assuming her current role, she was a member of the litigation team and Chief of Staff to the General Counsel. Cheryl also spent two years in risk management, where she was responsible for reporting on operational risk issues to senior management and the Board of Directors.
Cheryl began her career as an associate at Weil Gotshal & Manges, representing clients in a variety of complex commercial litigation matters, including intellectual property, product liability, bankruptcy, and contractual disputes. Cheryl clerked for the Honorable George Daniels on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. She received a B.A. in Political Science from New York University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School.
Cheryl serves as an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School, where she teaches legal writing to first-year law students. She is also on the Advisory Board for the Door, a nonprofit whose mission is to empower young people to reach their potential by providing comprehensive development services in a diverse and caring environment. In 2022, Cheryl was named to the New York Law Journal’s Rising Stars Under Forty list.
Preston Pugh
Preston Pugh is a trial lawyer and the co-chair of Crowell & Moring’s False Claims Act (“FCA”) practice. A former Assistant U.S. Attorney, compliance monitor, and Senior Counsel at a Fortune 10 company, today clients rely on him for advice in complex government and internal investigations, high-stakes litigation matters, significant regulatory enforcement issues, substantial reputational concerns, and the implementation of remedial measures and compliance programs. His extensive work in corporate investigations has been recognized in The Legal 500.
Preston has served as a first chair trial lawyer in several successful jury trials, and has argued cases in the majority of the federal courts of appeals. A member of the bars of Washington, D.C., Illinois and New York, he has led the defense of whistleblower investigations and litigation in many different industries, including health care, financial services, insurance, professional services and consulting, defense and aerospace, and government contracting. His recent engagements include, among others, the defense of corporations investigated by the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) in significant cases; successfully representing heavily regulated companies in arbitrations; and, several internal corporate investigations involving C-Suite leaders focused on governance and corporate ethics.
Preston is also a leader in the development of national criminal justice and global compliance policy. In 2022, he served as one of the “experts in corporate ethics and compliance” that DOJ consulted in announcing policy reforms in its “Further Revisions to Corporate Criminal Enforcement Policies” memo (the “Monaco Memo”) in September 2022. He is a voting member of the ABA Criminal Justice Section Council, which proposes changes in the administration of criminal justice to federal and state legislatures. And, he is a member of the board of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, the oldest and largest national, nonprofit membership organization devoted to advocating for equal justice.
Additionally, Preston is a frequently published writer and speaker on topics related to corporate compliance, whistleblower investigations, and the False Claims Act. In 2023, he was part of a small group who worked with senior DOJ leaders from around the country to create the first Charlotte E. Ray lecture at Howard University School of Law.
Michele Siano
Michele Siano is executive vice president and chief compliance officer of MetLife, Inc. She is part of the Global Risk Management organization.
Michele joined MetLife in February 2020 from Citi, where she held a number of leadership positions with extensive experience in managing global compliance risks. Most recently, she served as managing director and chief operating officer for Citi’s Global Independent Compliance Risk Management department and chief compliance officer of Ethics and Conduct Risk Management. She also played a key role in leading compliance transformation efforts to develop consistent, efficient, and relevant global compliance coverage.
Michele joined Citi’s Legal Department in 2003 and became a managing director in 2007. She rejoined Citi’s Compliance Risk Management group in 2011. From 2009 to 2011 she was a senior vice president at D.E. Shaw & Co., where she was responsible for leading investment advisor and broker-dealer compliance. Prior to joining Citi in 2003, Michele was a corporate vice president at UBS Financial Services in the Regulatory Legal Group. She started her career as an associate at the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell.
Michele is admitted to practice law in New York. She earned her law degree from Brooklyn Law School, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees from New York University.
About PCCE’s Board of Advisors
The PCCE Board of Advisors is comprised of experts with diverse backgrounds who advise PCCE’s leadership team on the most pressing and substantive policy issues in the area of compliance and enforcement. The Board of Advisors acts in an advisory capacity only and does not directly oversee the activities of PCCE. All members of the Board of Advisors serve in their individual capacity. A list of current board members is available here.