Ankura expanded its leadership team, adding Ben Seto as CFO and Gina Ciavarro as chief information security officer. With Seto’s appointment, Christopher Balsley will be become Ankura’s chief accounting officer.
Based in Washington D.C., Seto will be responsible for enhancing and supporting Ankura’s financial performance and guiding its evolution into a global business advisory firm. As a senior finance and operations executive, he has more than 25 years of experience in strategy development, financial planning and analysis, mergers and acquisitions transactions, and the integration of new businesses.
Seto has held corporate and international roles in multi-billion-dollar companies and privately-held businesses, working in industries such as professional services, energy, consumer products, information technology and commercial finance. He joins Ankura from Avendra, a North American procurement services provider serving hospitality-related industries, where he serves as chief financial officer. Prior to his time at Avendra, Seto oversaw country and regional finances for AES, an international power company.
“We are thrilled that Ben is joining Ankura at such a pivotal time in our firm’s growth story,” said Roger Carlile, Ankura CEO. “As we enhance our capabilities to serve clients globally, it is important that we have outstanding financial and operational leadership on our team.”
Before her appointment to chief information security officer, Ciavarro led Ankura’s information security program development and compliance initiatives for one of the firm’s largest clients. She developed tailored solutions that fortified and modernized the client’s security systems to fulfill regulatory requirements, and her adaptive approach will enable her to solve complex data protection issues.
Before joining Ankura, Ciavarro served as a principal consultant for Symantec, a service provider in the data loss prevention and security industry.
“As a recognized expert in IT security, Gina is a perfect fit for the role of chief information security officer. She brings real-world security management experience and a consulting mindset to the role, which will allow her to approach issues from numerous perspectives and deliver valuable business and technology outcomes for Ankura and our clients,” said Kevin Cheung, Ankura’s CIO.
