With over 20 years’ talent acquisition experience, Geoff Abere is the associate director, vendor management office at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra), overseeing the contingent workforce program. The program was implemented in 2015 to be a strategic partner and conduit between Finra vendor programs and technology departments looking to employ contractors.

Abere manages a specialist, Travis Montague, and reports to Rubyna Zito, VP of technology operations and services. Together they run the program that continues to evolve to include not just contingent labor, but also statements of work and other services and procurement offerings.  

Abere’s department is unique in that it sits specifically within the technology house of the company – with a culture known to be innovative, collaborative and impactful. “That aligns very well with our program, as we have to continue evolve as a program and bring innovative ways to acquire talent to our internal customers,” Abere says.

Abere has also implemented a junior contingent program to acquaint new talent with the Finra technology culture. The team is also running pilot programs in various locations outside the Finra offices in an effort to develop new channels for talent procurement, potentially at a lower cost.

Looking to the future, Abere would like to provide a stronger focus on the candidate experience, leveraging Finra’s strong employment brand to attract top level talent through direct sourcing.