Finra adds human resources officer

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. has appointed an African-American woman to join the top ranks as executive vice president and chief human resources officer.

Rainia Washington will lead Finra’s People Solutions team, overseeing the organization’s talent recruitment, training and development, diversity and inclusion, compensation and benefits, and employee relations.

Finra did not provide additional comment beyond the press release and said Washington was not available for comment for this story, but according to the Finra website, Washington will be the lone African-American executive at the brokerage industry’s self-regulator.

Washington comes to Finra after a 26-year career at Lockheed Martin, where she served in a variety of increasingly important roles within human resources, for the past six years as the Chief Global Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the 110,000-employee company.

She received her Bachelor of Science in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and her MBA from Penn State University.

"Rainia brings a wealth of expertise across so many facets of talent management, and I am confident she will provide strong leadership for our People Solutions team and Finra's world-class employees, while also developing and recruiting our next generation of leaders," said Finra president and chief executive Robert Cook.