Stephen Gauster

Stephen W. Gauster is the founder and Managing Member of Alane Solutions. He also serves on the Board of Directors of The Beekman Estate, a stock corporation with origins in the 17th century that manages a diversified portfolio of commercial and residential real estate in Manhattan, Westchester County, Connecticut and New Jersey. From 2017 to 2023, Stephen served as Interim General Counsel and then Executive Vice President and General Counsel of MetLife, where he led the company’s global legal operations, Corporate Secretary’s Office and Corporate Ethics and Compliance functions. Stephen joined the company in 2016 as Senior Vice President and Chief Counsel of the General Corporate Section of the Legal Affairs Department.

Prior to joining MetLife, Stephen was Senior Vice President, Chief Corporate Counsel and Assistant Secretary at Assurant, Inc., a Fortune 500 global specialty insurer. In that role, he was responsible for the company’s corporate center legal and corporate governance functions. Before Assurant, Stephen was Vice President, Corporate Counsel and Assistant Secretary at Prudential Financial. There he supported Prudential’s treasury functions, capital market transactions and public company disclosure. He was also secretary to the Finance and Investment Committees of the Board of Directors. Previously, Stephen was an associate with Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton and a law clerk for the Honorable Jane R. Roth, U.S. Court of Appeals, Third Circuit.

Stephen is admitted to practice law in New York, New Jersey (as in-house counsel) and the District of Columbia (inactive). He earned his law degree from Harvard Law School, where he was Books and Commentaries Editor of the Harvard Law Review. He also earned a master’s degree from Harvard University and a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College. 

Stephen is a member of the New York State Bar Association, the Society of Corporate Secretaries and Governance Professionals, the Association of Corporate Counsel, the National Association of Corporate Directors, the American Bar Association, and the Hispanic National Bar Association. He is also Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of Northfield Mount Hermon School and Chair of its Investments Committee, a former Vestry Member of Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue and an Officer of the Order of St John.

Jay Cohen

Jay Cohen is of counsel to the law firm of Giordano Halleran & Cielsa, representing insurance companies, investment advisors and other business organizations in legal and regulatory matters. He was a Managing Director in the Risk Advisory practice at Deloitte, where he helped companies in insurance and other industries develop and strengthen their compliance programs. Jay conducted compliance risk assessments: assisted organizations in addressing changes in laws and regulations in critical areas including sales practices, information governance and data privacy; helped firms manage required remediation of compliance problems; and directed major projects to strengthen compliance through better insights into risk, efficient deployment of resources, and the effective use of data and analytics.

Before joining Deloitte, Jay had more than 20 years’ experience as a compliance professional, most recently as the Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer for Assurant, Inc., a Fortune 500 global specialty insurance company. Jay led Assurant’s comprehensive program to identify and address the legal and regulatory requirements for Assurant's varied, world-wide insurance businesses.

Prior to joining Assurant, Jay was a corporate compliance officer for insurance, health-care and information-services organizations and also provided compliance insights and recommendations as a consultant to companies in a wide range of industries.

Jay served in a number of positions in New York City and State Government, including Chief of the Appeals Bureau and First Deputy District Attorney in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office. There he led a team of 50-60 appeals experts, successfully argued a case in the United States Supreme Court, and helped to prosecute high-profile homicide cases.

Jay earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from The George Washington University and his Juris Doctor from Yale Law School.