Jelena McWilliams

Jelena McWilliams is a former Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), former Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary for Fifth Third Bank and former Chief Counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Ms. McWilliams focuses her practice on advising companies, financial institutions, fintechs, and early stage and venture companies on regulatory and corporate matters, mergers and acquisitions, and IPO and other capital markets transactions.

While at the FDIC, Ms. McWilliams established the agency’s first office of innovation to implement technological advancements through supervisory channels and collaborative partnerships between banks and fintechs. She also spearheaded the agency’s effort to develop prudential banking policy on digital assets, including through a “crypto sprint” with the Office of the Currency Comptroller (OCC) and the Federal Reserve Board (FRB), and in collaboration with the President’s Working Group multiagency effort on stablecoins.