Later this month, on July 30th, FINRA will hold its annual meeting in Washington, D.C., during which it will conduct an election for three open seats on its Board of Governors. On FINRA’s 24-member Board of Governors, 
there are 10 seats that are reserved for industry representatives from small, medium and large firms. Of those 10, there are three openings: one Large Firm Governor, one Mid-Size Fim Governor, and one Small Firm Governor. Here are the candidates:
- Large Firm Governor: One candidate, John Thiel, head of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, is running unopposed as the FINRA-nominated large-firm governor candidate.
- Mid-Size Firm Governor: Two candidates, John Muschalek, vice chairman of First Southwest Co., and Brian Kovack, president and co-founder of Kovack Securities Inc., are running as mid-size firm governor candidates. However, only Muschalek was nominated by FINRA.
- Small Firm Governor: Two candidates, Stephen Kohn, president and CEO of Stephen A. Kohn & Associates Ltd., and Joe Romano, president of Romano Wealth Management, are running as small firm governor candidates. Neither were nominated by FINRA.
The election to watch will be for the mid-size firm governor position, as it pits the FINRA nominated candidate, Muschalek, against Kovack, who is looking to shake things up. 
According to ThinkAdvisor, Kovack is running what he dubs a “dissident” campaign and is calling for “immediate reforms” to FINRA policies in three areas: FINRA’s arbitration system, the exam process, and U4 disclosures. Thus, in just two weeks, the results of the mid-size firm governor election could signal whether or not it will continue to be business-as-usual within the FINRA Board of Governors.