Meet Collin Schwartz, general counsel and chief regulatory officer

What is your role with TruSight and what led you to this career path?

My role as head of regulatory affairs and methodology involves several responsibilities. On the regulatory affairs side, I work to ensure that we are assessing third parties against all relevant rules and regulations, including those that may be issued in the future. In addition, it is mission-critical to also foster relationships with our customers’ regulators and include them in the consensus of how a comprehensive third-party risk assessment can be executed across the industry.

On the methodology side, I continue to analyze and enhance TruSight’s assessment methodology and provide expertise as we review our methodology with our partners and founders. This will ensure reliability on the part of all parties involved in the assessments.

What is your team culture like?

I have always been a proponent of the “get it done” mentality. This requires the ability to step out of your comfort zone and run with things that may be unfamiliar at times. Collaboration with others is critical when adopting that sort of work approach, since everyone brings a different experience to the workplace and can at least provide sanity checks when you need them.

How have you grown professionally while at TruSight?

Prior to my roles at a number of financial institutions, I developed a software product for Bloomberg LP. My experience bore many similarities to launching a startup, as this was a homegrown product that required product development, data management, sales and marketing and the flexibility to pivot as necessary. Although I was able to bring some of that experience with me to the financial institutions, those roles tend to be very vertical or siloed. TruSight enables me to draw more from my well of experience and get back into rolling up my sleeves and ensuring the success of a relatively young product.

Which benefits/perks are your favorite and why?

As a father of two young children, I find the work-from-home flexibility my favorite perk. Especially within the confines of the current pandemic, there are a lot of unprecedented and unforeseeable obstacles that get thrown our way, such as school closures. Working remotely reduces a lot of the mental stress that would accompany trying to figure out what to do with your children while you are trying to get your job done.

What are some of the projects/initiatives you are currently working on?

Currently, I am working on the rollout of the 4.0 Methodology, which improves on the 3.1 version. Whereas 3.1 focused on efficiency, 4.0 brings a level of comprehensiveness into the methodology, which is being formed largely by consensus among financial institutions and third-party service providers. In addition, I am working on a strategy to gain the confidence of our customers’ regulators that the TruSight assessment methodology effectively provides both financial institutions and regulators with a level of comfort that our assessments provide the proper insight into levels of third-party risk.

What is a project/initiative you were proud to be a part of?

I am proud that I am given the ability to step outside my stated role and sometimes lend assistance to sales, marketing, operations, etc. It is important to understand all aspects of the mission, as those priorities certainly influence the decisions you have to make within your job description.

What has been your biggest accomplishment?

I am happy that I was able to jump into the assessment methodology and provide constructive feedback that will result in more efficiencies and accuracy.

How is the industry changing? How does TruSight help companies adapt during this evolution?

Financial institutions are beginning to realize that a common standard and approach to third-party risk assessment is where the industry is heading. The common standard ensures that all assessors of third-party risk are applying equal approaches, as there is currently a tendency to either over-assess risk or potentially miss critical risk indicators. TruSight brings that common assessment methodology to the industry, and the ability to generate assessments quickly, as opposed to a financial institution having to reassess companies at differing standards or engage in lengthy assessment processes.

What do you think will be the biggest trends in the industry over the next five years?

I think we will start to see more privacy legislation within the U.S., which has been spurred in part by issues raised during the pandemic (vaccine information, contact tracing, etc.). A Data Protection Act is in the works, and it will be very interesting to see how that might dovetail with other existing regimes, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Lastly, given the focus on infrastructure built in the U.S., I think we will see more rules or guidance around cybersecurity and more stringent standards to protect our data from intentional and non-intentional threats.