Rena Verma and Colleen Hsia join FTI Consulting's New York office

06 June 2019 Consulting.us

Management consultancy FTI Consulting has brought in two new senior managing directors to its New York office. Rena Verma joins the information governance, privacy & security (IGP&S) practice in the firm’s technology segment, while Colleen Hsia will serve as Americas head of financial services within the strategic communications segment.

Rena Verma brings nearly 20 years of experience advising Fortune 500 legal departments and law firms in the areas of information governance, electronic discovery, legal technology, and legal operations. She has led numerous legal integration projects which have required the merging and separation of business information systems and processes because of M&A or divestiture.

FTI’s IGP&S practice helps clients address corporate data challenges related to safety and defensibility, as well as supporting the design and implementation of defensible e-discovery and information governance policies. The firm’s technology segment has been recognized with awards from the National Law Journal, Corporate Counsel, and Computer Technology Review.

“The wide range of information governance challenges – from data privacy to post-merger data segregation and remediation – require a specialized skillset that includes legal and technical acumen as well as strategic thinking,” Jake Frazier, senior managing director and leader of the IGP&S practice, said. “Rena has this skillset as well as deep experience advising companies on how to operationalize and streamline their discovery and data governance practices. She will bring significant value to our clients, and we are extremely pleased she has joined our practice.”

Verma previously spent three years at Consilio, where she was a managing director in the discovery consulting practice. Before that, she spent nearly nine years at Huron, where she was a senior director in the legal practice.

Earlier in her career, Verma was a legal IT & discovery projects lead at MetLife, and a legal services solution advisor at Infocache Corporation. She holds an MBA in computer information systems from California State University – East Bay.

Colleen Hsia brings nearly two decades of financial services industry experience to her role at the head of the Americas financial services division within FTI’s communications segment. She will lead a team that supports clients with corporate reputation, public affairs, financial communications, and crisis communications, helping them navigate regulatory, enforcement, litigation, and economic challenges.

Hsia has deep experience in global business development and marketing across asset management, alternatives, trading, and investment banking. She previously spend three years as global head of marketing at Jane Street – a quantitative trading firm and liquidity provider – where she led marketing and communications across the firm’s global offices.

Before that, she spent six years at BlackRock, where she managed the firm’s US ETF product strategy for factor and fixed-income ETFs. Hsia also served as head of investment content, head of institutional marketing, and head of iShares marketing in Asia-Pacific.

Earlier in her career, Hsia spent six years at NYC-based fund of hedge funds manager Magnitude Capital, joining as an investment analyst and rising to senior vice president and head of business development. She holds MBAs from Columbia Business School and London Business School.

“Colleen brings nearly two decades of hands-on industry experience and exceptional subject-matter expertise, which will undoubtedly benefit our clients as they face complex business opportunities and challenges during a time of increasing regulatory scrutiny, vocal and active shareholder bases, and game-changing technological advancements,” said Brian Kennedy, Americas head, strategic communications. “She is also an entrepreneur at heart, and we look forward to having her on our senior leadership team as we continue to grow and expand our business.”