BRG adds three ex-Guidehouse consultants to New York office

04 February 2025 Consulting.us

Berkeley Research Group, an Emeryville, CA-headquartered management consultancy, has added three senior hires from Guidehouse to its financial institution advisory practice in New York: Samantha Welch, Gene Bolton, and Kristin Wenske.

The trio will strengthen BRG’s financial crimes capabilities, bringing extensive expertise across anti-money laundering (AML), counterterrorism finance, and fraud and corruption.

Samantha Welch joins as a managing director, bringing nearly 25 years of experience in the consulting and financial services sectors. She specializes in helping clients manage regulatory compliance, and has worked with banks, investment advisors, and PE firms on complex issues involving AML, sanctions, and reputational risk.

Welch spent the last decade with Guidehouse / Navigant, where she was latterly a partner. Before that, she was an executive director for treasury services compliance at JPMorgan Chase and held VP roles in AML compliance at HSBC Securities and RBC Capital Markets.

Welch has an MBA from New York University and a bachelor’s degree from Rollins College.

Gene Bolton joins as a director with over a decade of consulting and financial services experience. He focuses on AML and has helped numerous clients manage regulatory matters in sanctions compliance with agencies such as the Department of Justice and Federal Reserve.

Bolton also previously spent a decade with Guidehouse/Navigant, where he was latterly a director. Earlier in his career, he was an AML compliance analyst at JPMorgan Chase.

Bolton has master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Seton Hall University.

Kristin Wenske brings over 15 years of experience in AML, sanctions compliance, and the Bank Secrecy Act to her new role as a director at BRG. Wenske specializes in program remediation and financial crime risk management, and has worked with various financial institutions to implement efficient operating models for transaction monitoring.

She previously spent 11 years with Guidehouse / Navigant, where she was latterly a director. Before that, Wenske spent six years at Corporate Resolutions Inc., where she was a senior investigative analyst.

Wenske has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Dayton.

“As geopolitical tensions intensify and cybercriminals increasingly adopt artificial intelligence–powered tools, we expect financial crime to grow substantially over the next decade—and the penalties imposed on businesses for not mitigating these risks will grow in kind," said Paul Noring, leader of BRG's Financial Institution Advisory practice. "Samantha, Gene and Kristin bring unparalleled industry and regulatory expertise to help our clients navigate these challenges.”

BRG recently welcomed Rich Rieger as a Chicago-based managing director in its health analytics practice.

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