Thomas A. Russo

Vice Chairman/Chief Legal Officer
Thomas A. Russo is an executive vice president and the chief legal officer of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Mr. Russo is a vice chairman of Lehman Brothers Inc. He is a member of and serves as counsel to Lehman Brothers' Executive Committee. He is responsible for the Firm's Legal, Compliance and Audit group.

Prior to joining the Firm in January 1993, Mr. Russo was a partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft and a member of its Management Committee. On multiple occasions, Mr. Russo was listed in the National Law Journal as one of the "100 Most Influential Lawyers in America."

From 1975 to 1977, Mr. Russo was the deputy general counsel of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and then became the first director of its Division of Trading and Markets. From 1971 to 1975, he was an associate at Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft. Mr. Russo also worked as an attorney in the Division of Market Regulation of the Securities and Exchange Commission from 1969 until 1971.

He has written articles on topics in the securities, derivatives, commodities and banking fields as well as textbooks on securities law and commodities law.

Mr. Russo is a member of the Executive Committee of the National Board of Trustees of the March of Dimes, vice chairman of the Board of Trustees of The Institute for Financial Markets, and chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees of the Institute of International Education, as well as a founder of the Institute of International Education's Scholar Rescue Fund and a member of its Board. Mr. Russo serves on the Board of Governors of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. He is also a member of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's International Advisory Committee and a member of the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Fordham University with a B.A., Mr. Russo earned his J.D. at Cornell Law School and his M.B.A. at Cornell's Johnson School of Management.