Ankura welcomes new chief financial officer and chief privacy officer

Advisory firm Ankura has brought in Christina Wong as its new chief financial officer and R Jason Straight as senior managing director and chief privacy officer.

Christina Wong is a financial executive who brings more than 20 years of experience to the role, where she will oversee Ankura’s global finance function as the firm continues to grow.

“Ankura has evolved and grown significantly since we were founded in 2014,” Kevin Lavin, CEO of Ankura, said. “As we look towards our next chapter, it is important that we have the operational infrastructure and processes to support and sustain our growth across all of our offices and practice areas. Christina brings a wealth of experience in driving large-scale initiatives to support fast-growing enterprises, as well as a fresh perspective that will be instrumental as we focus on this next stage.”

Wong joins from American Express, where she spent over 20 years and most recently served as CFO and SVP of global merchant services, where she was responsible for overseeing the financial aspects of the division’s $4.6 billion P&L and $30 billion balance sheet. During her various leadership roles at AmEx, Wong led numerous large scale initiatives to maximize revenue, profit, and business performance.

She holds an MBA from New York University and a BS in finance from Boston College.

"Ankura has been on an incredible growth trajectory, due to the vision and dedication of the management team and its world-class professionals,” Wong said. “I look forward to partnering with my new colleagues to support the firm's continued upward trajectory and our collective ability to provide clients with intelligent solutions moving forward."

R Jason Straight is a leader in the cybersecurity and privacy consulting field, with extensive experience managing cybersecurity investigations and data breach events across a wide range of industries. He has advised numerous companies looking to strengthen their security and privacy through improved processes, technology, and staff expertise.

"Jason is a leader in his field, and we are delighted he has chosen to bring his expertise to Ankura," said Jessica Block, senior managing director at Ankura. "His addition brings together our cybersecurity and data privacy offerings in a way that highlights the collaborative nature of our experts who routinely work together in a seamless fashion to deliver innovative solutions for our clients.”

Straight previously spent six years at technology services firm UnitedLex Corporation, where he served as SVP and chief privacy officer. Before that, he spent over a decade at Kroll, where he was latterly a managing director in the cybersecurity and data breach response practice – overseeing a team of experts in computer forensics, network intrusion, and data breach investigations. Prior to that, he was a VP and senior managing director at Kroll Ontrack’s legal technologies, computer forensics, cyber security, and risk consulting businesses.

He holds a JD from the University of Minnesota Law School and a BA in international studies from Macalester College.

"Ankura appealed to me as one of the few consulting organizations which recognize that cybersecurity and data privacy have converged and become a unified continuum," Straight said. “I'm excited to be joining an established team of experienced and qualified professionals, with best-in-class technology at our fingertips, and I look forward to helping clients navigate their cybersecurity and data privacy concerns."