MEET JENNIFER STOUT OF FSDA CORPORATE MEMBER, BATES GROUP, LLC
We are speaking today with Jennifer Stout, Chief Executive Officer of Bates Group, LLC.
Jennifer, please tell us a little bit about yourself.
Answer: I am a born-and-raised Oregonian and love living in the Portland area. I graduated from University of Portland and worked for Arthur Anderson as a tax accountant before joining Bates in 1993.
How long have your served as CEO of Bates Group?
Answer: I have been the CEO of Bates Group since we re-acquired ourselves from LECG in 2011. I am also thrilled to be the majority owner of Bates as well. For the last 8 years, we have been focused on growth in three practice areas: Litigation & Regulatory, Compliance Consulting and AML/Financial Crimes. Our team of experienced industry professionals support financial services clients and their counsel in litigation consultation and testimony, regulatory and internal investigations, compliance matters, AML services, forensic accounting, damages and big data consulting. Bates also offers Arbitrator Evaluator™, a new generation of intelligent analytics for identifying and selecting the best arbitrators for customer and intra-industry cases.
You have worked at Bates for more than 25 years. Tell us about your history at Bates, from your start as a financial analyst to your position as CEO.
Answer: I began my career at Bates Capital as a financial analyst. It was a unique opportunity to learn about the financial services industry in a growing litigation support firm. I performed many different roles as I grew in my career, including analyst, consultant, quantitative testifier and senior manager. I have been fortunate to work with highly talented co-workers and clients, all of whom have helped me develop as a leader.
I know you're a member of the FSDA Financial Oversight Committee. Tell us a little bit about what that committee does.
Answer: I am a new member to the committee, which has been created to oversee the stewardship of our organizations funds, and to provide recommendations on best practices for use of the funds. I am very excited to be a part of the committee.
Why is it important for Bates Group to be a member of the FSDA?
Answer: When I first learned about FSDA from Alex Sabo, I was impressed with the active membership and the history of the group. It is important to me that Bates supports and engages in industry organizations—like many of our clients—striving to have a positive and lasting impact. I feel strongly that FSDA does just that. We are thrilled to be a part of this dynamic organization.
I know that Bates Group is very involved with community activities. Please tell us a little bit about your involvement with these issues.
Answer: Individually and as a company, Bates employees participate in a variety of community volunteer activities. Every year our leadership team chooses a charity to support and involves entire staff participation. This past year we contributed to a food and clothing drive for the Sunshine Division and we created an all-company service project for the Sexual Assault Resource Center of Oregon.
https://www.batesgroup.com/about/bates-in-the-community
Jennifer, thanks for taking time to speak with us today.
www.BatesGroup.com
