"Empowering Employees"

Cathy Vasilev is a strong female leader in an industry that’s highly regulated and rapidly evolving.

With the advent of digital media and a global marketplace, financial advisers, financial institutions and investment firms are under pressure to approve advertising and marketing material faster while at the same time reducing, or being mindful of, costs.

As Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer for Red Oak Compliance Solution, Cathy uses her in-depth compliance expertise to guide client compliance efforts and to strategically influence the company’s software solutions.

Cathy spent 25 years developing her compliance expertise while working at leading financial advisory firms. She, along with Co-Founders Stephen Pope and Rick Grashel, saw the need for a better, more agile compliance solution to meet the evolving needs of compliance and marketing professionals.

In 2010, they formed Red Oak Compliance Solutions, where they developed SaaS technology designed to meet the needs of advertising and compliance professionals in the financial services market. The company’s flagship software is noted and respected throughout the regtech and financial services industries as an easy-to-use, compliant, and highly configurable solution that can be scaled to meet the needs of firms regardless of their size and the number of professionals working to ensure compliance standards are met.

Cathy focuses on building and leading two impactful teams within the Red Oak organization –implementations and consulting. The consulting team comprises knowledgeable professionals with extensive backgrounds in financial services, compliance and legal. Cathy’s team serves financial firms in several capacities – from advising on new regulatory developments to supplementing compliance departments for growing teams, to offering trainings and development written procedures to support for organizations and their development.

The implementations team works with new clients to ensure they are properly configured and ready to start using Red Oak’s compliance software. While many tech implementations can take several months, Cathy’s team strives to get clients up and running in a matter of weeks. And they’re very often successful because of the software’s flexibility, which empowers clients to start nimbly and continue to make adjustments as they learn how the software might work best for their organization.

As COO, at Red Oak, Cathy plays a key role in keeping the organization strong. She prioritizes employee growth, development, and empowerment and she works to create competitive and rewarding employee benefits and compensation packages. She also advocates for a culture of empowerment where employees are provided the space, opportunity, and support to professionally be the best they can be and thrive in the organization. Because of the culture Cathy has championed, Red Oak has become a great landing place for financial industry veterans, many of whom have moved over and joined the company’s sales, implementation and support teams.

While Cathy is a mentor to many in the compliance and financial services fields, she is especially focused on mentoring women within the Red Oak organization and the financial services industry, encouraging them to be their best, to conquer new challenges and to advocate for themselves. She provides valuable guidance and she is an advocate for learning by experience – letting them run the show when they have worked hard on a project or process.

As Red Oak continues to grow and to attract the attention of nationally recognized firms, the company continues to launch new software features, including:

- Smart Review – a disclosure management tool that uses predictive intelligence to streamline review processes between marketing and compliance teams

- Smart Registration – a licensing and registration module designed to reduce the time and effort required to maintain the many licenses required for financial advisors

As Red Oak continues to evolve and advance, Cathy and her team will be on hand to support clients as they onboard the flagship software or upgrade to additional modules, and to capture client feedback that inspires new solutions to meet the growing demands of the financial services industry. IEWL