Movers and Shakers: Jamila Piracci, Vice President of OTC Derivatives, National Futures Association

By Sophie Fletcher (Chicago)

Jamila Piracci believes in a combination of serendipity and making the best of opportunities.  Previously a lawyer with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, she was looking for a new challenge when she was directed by an interviewer to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), a global financial trade association that represents participants in the privately negotiated derivatives industry, also known as the Over-the-Counter (OTC) markets.

She had been keeping up with ISDA activity and following the progress they were making related to documentation standards and, based on this person’s suggestion, decided to pick up the phone and call ISDA’s General Counsel.

It happened to be a brilliant time to call because it turned out they were looking to hire outside lawyers. The General Counsel was acquainted with Piracci through industry events and asked her to come in for an interview. “I am still in awe of how I got a job there,” remarks Piracci.

Before working at ISDA, Piracci spent a number of years at various law firms, having started her practice as a lawyer at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. While ISDA and the New York Fed were her favorite places to work, Piracci credits her diverse professional background in getting her to where she is now – Vice President of OTC Derivatives at the National Futures Association.

Building a Foundation

Jamila Piracci studied Government at Harvard University and went on to receive an MBA and JD from Cornell University.

“While I was in law school, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York came to campus and I interviewed with them because it was off the beaten path,” Piracci explained.

She split her final summer during law school working at a law firm and at the Federal Reserve. Once she finished law school, she started a rotation working in different divisions of the New York Fed’s Legal Group.

During a rotation in the bank supervision division, she worked with a senior lawyer on research involving credit default swaps (CDS). She developed a keen interest in the area, despite the long hours she spent looking at disputes in the area. “I realized then that I would never be bored with my career if I practiced in the derivatives space!”

After a year, Piracci decided she wanted to be a participant in the derivatives industry after having a taste of observing it.  She gained experience in private practice and for a brief period as an in-house lawyer.

“I believe the best derivatives lawyers are in-house,” she said, noting that when lawyers work with trading desks, they see how the markets work, how deals are structured, in addition to how everything is documented and executed.

Piracci wanted to be as close to the creative process as possible. During her time spent advising derivatives market participants she worked closely with the people who developed derivatives products. However, it was in 2005 that Piracci decided to give the General Counsel at ISDA a call.

While at ISDA, one of the projects she worked on was the credit default swap auction protocol.

At that time, CDS contracts settled with physical delivery. The problem was that the notional amount on certain contracts was multiples of the underliers’ outstanding debt and physical deliveries for all the CDS covering the debt of certain issuers were not going to be possible in the event of a default.

The Federal Reserve had asked the industry to come up with a solution for settling these contracts on an ad-hoc and then on a long term basis. ISDA did, through its membership, come up with an auction methodology that is broadly used today.

Balancing a Personal Life

At the end of 2006, Piracci left ISDA to work at a law firm again. She had moved from New York to Chicago to be with her new husband. However, after the birth of her first child, Piracci faced the challenge of balancing her role as a mother with her role as a lawyer.

“In my life I have found that balance really is about reaching a point where one has the ability to choose what to prioritize at any given moment or over some period of time and then being comfortable with the consequences of that choice,” she says. By consequences, she means the give and take that comes with balancing multiple demands in one’s life. She notes that she may not always feel as if she has struck the correct balance but has sought work environments that give her the flexibility she needs to meet the demands of her life, both at work and at home.

When asked whether she believes that there are certain stereotypes that cling stubbornly to women and minorities more than others, she indicated how excited she is about her own opportunities and those of her peers compared to those her parents had but noted that challenges remain.

She credits her upbringing as the key to her sense of empowerment and confidence and tries to instill that in other women through mentoring.

Mentors and Outside Advisors

Besides mentoring others, Piracci puts a big emphasis on her own mentors, whom she refers to as her “outside advisors.”

“Before starting in my current role, I had to identify people I could speak with candidly about how to approach my new role,” she said.

Piracci explains that it was difficult to choose people that knew this area of the business who also would have her best interest at heart. She considers herself to be very lucky to have incredible mentors, who have helped her at many junctures in her career. However, she knew that in her current role she would need special guidance.

“The thing about mentors,” she said, is that they have responsibilities of their own that they need to balance with their desire to help those they are mentoring. “I knew that in my current role I would need to identify a few people who would feel personally vested in my success irrespective their own interests. I am incredibly grateful that I have multiple resources that could fit the bill.”

“I didn’t just ask these people to be my mentors,” she said. “I built relationships and developed contacts through unusual circumstances. I have even made friends whom I met interviewing for jobs.”

Her Current Role

It was a little over a year into her return to the New York Fed that National Futures Association (NFA) approached her about helping set up their regulatory responsibilities for swaps market participants. At first, she was both stunned at the opportunity and torn about leaving the New York Fed. She liked the work and colleagues she would be leaving and had thought of the institution as her career home since she had begun there.

However, the unusual circumstances surrounding derivatives regulation carried the day. The Dodd-Frank Act was passed in 2010 and represents a sea of change in the derivatives markets. One aspect of the regulations thus far issued as a result of the Act created an important role for NFA in the new regulatory regime for OTC derivatives.

In July 2011, Piracci joined NFA as the Vice President of OTC Derivatives.

“I am grateful for the variety of perspectives I have had on OTC derivatives markets because the people I have met have given me some instincts to understand what NFA is doing currently,” she said. She considers her role to be a very challenging one and a wonderful opportunity to learn a great deal. She also sees it as a culmination of the arc of the first decade of her career.