Ellyn Brown is an experienced corporate and securities lawyer who, since her retirement from active practice, has served as an independent director of several public companies and key financial services organizations, and as an advisor to entities seeking creative business growth.  Her previous legal and consulting work focused on operations, regulatory, and governance services, principally to financial services industry clients and other businesses operating in heavily regulated, high-scrutiny environments, and also to entities undergoing fundamental corporate transformation or restructuring.  She subsequently has brought this experience to bear in her board and advisory work.

Currently, Ms. Brown is a director of CNO Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE:  CNO), an insurance holding company, and chair of the board of trustees of Brinker Capital Destinations Trust, a mutual fund group (≅$24B AUM).  She also serves as an advisor to the national Blue Cross Blue Shield Institute as it is exploring creative solutions to improve health outcomes and lower health care costs.

In 2005, Ellyn joined the newly-reconstituted board of the New York Stock Exchange just prior to the Exchange’s transition from a member-owned association to a public company.  She served on NYSE’s board through its subsequent merger with Euronext to form NYSE Euronext, Inc., the publicly-traded holding company that owned and operated the NYSE and the pan-European stock exchange (NYSE: NYX), until late 2013, when NYX was acquired by the Intercontinental Exchange.  She also chaired NYSE Regulation, Inc., the independent NYSE subsidiary responsible for regulatory oversight of the members and operations of all NYSE-owned exchanges, through 2014.

From 2006 - 2012, Ms. Brown was a member of the Board of Governors of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA), the principal securities industry self-regulatory organization in the U.S.  She was a trustee of the Financial Accounting Foundation (FAF), the parent of the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB, which is responsible for US GAAP standard setting) and its governmental counterpart, the Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB), from 2006 - 2011.  She also served on the board of directors of Walter Investment Management Corp. (NYSE: WAC) until May 2017.

Ellyn has taught business and securities law at Villanova University and the University of Maryland, served as Maryland’s Securities Commissioner, and practiced corporate law at Venable, a Baltimore-Washington firm.  She has served on the boards of several professional organizations in the financial services area, and a number of civic and educational institutions, including the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

Ms. Brown is a graduate of Vassar College.  She holds a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins and a law degree from the University of Maryland.