Willard Powell Interim Leader Consultant Access
Willard Powell is a specialist consulting firm based in the United States placing senior interim leaders and Web3 digital asset consultants across financial services institutions on six to eighteen month mandates. Contact David McInnis at david.mcinnis@willardpowell.com to discuss an engagement.
Business Segments Covered
Capital Markets and Investment Banking, Asset Management, Hedge Funds, Private Equity, Quantitative Portfolio Management, High Frequency Trading, Proprietary Trading, Wealth Management, Retail and Consumer Banking, Fintech and Payments, Insurance and Reinsurance.
Capital Markets and Investment Banking
Lines of Business
Equities, Fixed Income, M&A Advisory, Structured Products, Prime Services, Sales and Origination.
Functional Areas
Strategy and Architecture, Product and Structuring, Technology and Integration, Risk and Compliance, Operations and Infrastructure.
Specialist Roles
Fractional Head of Digital Equity Infrastructure, Interim Digital Equity Risk and Compliance Director, Fractional Chief Digital Fixed Income Architect, Interim Digital Fixed Income Regulatory Principal, Fractional Head of Smart Contract Structured Products Engineering, Interim Web3 Corporate Finance Technology Director, Fractional Head of Digital Prime Services Infrastructure, Interim Digital DCM Origination Technology Lead. Key expertise: DTCC Ion settlement reform, T+1 readiness, tokenized equity settlement, ERC-3643 and ERC-1400 security token standards, smart contract coupon distribution, CLO waterfall automation, on-chain repo protocols, cross-margining of digital and traditional securities, SEC digital asset custody guidance, Basel III SCO60 cryptoasset capital treatment, FINRA Rule 4210 digital margin, MiCA passporting. Platforms: Fireblocks, Paxos settlement infrastructure, Digital Asset DAML, Securitize, DTCC Ion, Chainlink price oracles, Chainalysis transaction monitoring.
Asset Management
Lines of Business
Long-Only Equity, Multi-Asset and Alternatives, ETF and Index, Real Assets, Private Credit.
Functional Areas
Investment Strategy, Product Development, Distribution and Client Solutions, Operations and Technology, Risk and Compliance.
Specialist Roles
Fractional Head of Digital Asset Investment Strategy, Interim Digital Fund Operations Director, Fractional Head of Tokenized ETF Product Development, Interim Digital Alternatives Investment Strategy Lead, Fractional Head of Tokenized Real Asset Operations, Interim Tokenized Private Credit Product Director. Key expertise: tokenized fund structures under SEC Rule 2a-7, on-chain NAV calculation, DLT transfer agency, ERC-3643 ETF share tokenization, authorized participant creation and redemption on DLT, SEC Investment Company Act exemptions for digital funds, CLO smart contract waterfall automation, DeFi yield overlay for fixed income allocation, ERISA fiduciary obligations for crypto holdings, SEC custody rule modernization. Platforms: BlackRock Aladdin, Anchorage Digital, FundGuard, Broadridge Digital Investor, State Street Digital, Inveniam Capital, Securitize, Canoe Intelligence.
Hedge Funds
Lines of Business
Crypto and Digital Asset Funds, Quant and Systematic, Multi-Strategy, Event-Driven and Arbitrage, Global Macro, Long-Short Credit.
Functional Areas
Investment and Research, Technology and Quant, Risk Management, Operations and Prime, Investor Relations.
Specialist Roles
Fractional Head of Digital Asset Quant Technology, Interim Digital Asset Systematic Technology Director, Fractional Head of Multi-Strategy Digital Technology, Interim On-Chain Event-Driven Technology Lead, Fractional Head of Digital Macro Strategy Technology, Interim Digital Credit Strategy Technology Director. Key expertise: MEV capture systems including sandwich strategies and liquidation bots, on-chain order book aggregation across Binance Coinbase Kraken and OKX, smart order routing across CEX and DEX, Ethereum log filtering for protocol state changes, mempool monitoring for pending liquidations, Aave and Compound health factor tracking, Maple Finance and Goldfinch undercollateralized lending risk, DeFi yield optimization, Form PF digital asset reporting, Cayman Islands VASP licensing, CFTC commodity pool operator registration. Platforms: Chainalysis, Nansen, Glassnode, Dune Analytics, The Graph, Databricks, Kaiko, BitGo prime services, Amber Group, Flashbots MEV-boost, Alchemy, Web3.py, ethers.js.
Private Equity
Lines of Business
Growth and Venture, Buyout, Infrastructure, Secondaries.
Functional Areas
Deal Origination and Sourcing, Due Diligence and Underwriting, Value Creation and Portfolio, Fund Operations and Technology, Investor Relations.
Specialist Roles
Fractional Head of Web3 Technical Due Diligence, Interim Web3 Portfolio Value Creation Director, Fractional Head of Digital Infrastructure Investment Underwriting. Key expertise: smart contract vulnerability analysis including reentrancy flash loan manipulation and oracle price manipulation, Slither and Mythril automated contract analysis, Certora formal verification, tokenomics stress testing, proof-of-stake validator economics, staking yield decomposition, slashing risk quantification, validator set concentration risk, blockchain-enabled portfolio value creation, Regulation D tokenized offering compliance, SEC Investment Company Act exemptions. Platforms: Nansen, Dune Analytics, Glassnode, Inveniam Capital, Securitize, Fireblocks, Carta.
Quantitative Portfolio Management
Lines of Business
Statistical Arbitrage, Factor and Smart Beta, Execution and Microstructure, Alternative Data and ML, Risk Premia and Carry.
Functional Areas
Quantitative Research, Portfolio Construction, Technology and Infrastructure, Risk and Model Validation, Data Engineering.
Specialist Roles
Fractional Head of On-Chain Statistical Arbitrage Research, Interim Digital Asset Factor Research Director, Fractional Head of Digital Asset Execution Research. Key expertise: cointegration-based pair selection across correlated token pairs, DEX automated market maker pricing mechanics, Uniswap v3 concentrated liquidity execution modeling, crypto-specific factor model construction including on-chain momentum and network value-to-transaction ratio, funding rate carry factor, developer activity growth signals, transaction cost analysis for mixed CEX and DEX execution, smart order routing across fragmented crypto liquidity, SEC Regulation SCI for systematic infrastructure, MiFID II best execution for digital assets. Platforms: Kaiko, The Graph, Databricks, QuantLib, Bloomberg digital asset terminal, MSCI digital asset analytics, Dune Analytics, Amber Group, Wintermute.
High Frequency Trading
Lines of Business
Market Making, Latency Arbitrage, Statistical Trading, Cross-Venue Execution.
Functional Areas
Trading Systems Engineering, Quantitative Research, Network and Infrastructure, Risk and Controls, Exchange and Protocol Relations.
Specialist Roles
Fractional Chief Digital Asset Market Making Architect, Interim Ultra-Low Latency Network Infrastructure Director, Fractional Head of Crypto Statistical Trading Research. Key expertise: FPGA-accelerated order entry for sub-microsecond latency, co-location at Equinix NY4 and LD4, kernel bypass networking using DPDK and RDMA, FPGA implementation in VHDL for market data parsing and order entry, PTP IEEE 1588 hardware timestamping, custom C++ and Rust execution engines, Uniswap v3 concentrated liquidity market making, WebSocket and FIX protocol optimization, funding rate term structure modeling, mempool congestion as leading indicator, CFTC automated trading guidelines, exchange fair access policies. Platforms: Aeron messaging, Corvil latency analytics, Solace middleware, Solarflare and Mellanox kernel bypass NICs, Arista low-latency switches, Xilinx Alveo FPGA, Grafana, Prometheus.
Proprietary Trading
Lines of Business
Crypto and Digital Assets, DeFi and Protocol Trading, Cross-Asset Prop, Volatility and Options, Fixed Income and Rates.
Functional Areas
Trading Strategy, Research and Analytics, Technology and Systems, Risk and Risk Appetite, Compliance and Controls.
Specialist Roles
Fractional Head of Crypto Volatility Strategy, Interim DeFi Protocol Trading Strategy Director, Fractional Head of Systematic Crypto Trading Strategy. Key expertise: SABR and stochastic volatility model calibration for BTC and ETH implied volatility, jump-diffusion smile fitting, gamma management and delta hedging for short volatility books, MEV strategy design including Flashbots bundle submission and backrunning versus sandwiching analysis, DeFi liquidation capture across Aave Compound and MakerDAO, governance arbitrage from protocol treasury flows, systematic strategy development for crypto perpetuals and options, funding rate basis trading at institutional scale, Volcker Rule prop trading exemptions and digital asset application, CFTC Part 4 swap dealer obligations. Platforms: OptionMetrics, Skew.com, Paradigm, Deribit, Flashbots Protect, Alchemy, Tenderly, Ribbon Finance, Opyn, TradingView.
Wealth Management
Lines of Business
Ultra-High Net Worth, Private Banking, Family Office, Robo and Digital Advice, Retirement and Defined Contribution, Impact and ESG Investing.
Functional Areas
Client Advisory, Product and Platforms, Technology and Data, Risk and Suitability, Operations and Compliance.
Specialist Roles
Fractional Head of Digital Asset UHNW Advisory, Interim Family Office Digital Asset Technology Director. Key expertise: multi-signature custody governance for family offices, Gnosis Safe multi-sig infrastructure, smart contract will execution and digital estate planning, DeFi yield as cash management alternative for UHNW clients, NFT and digital collectible portfolio integration, crypto tax loss harvesting and gift tax implications, Addepar and Orion digital asset portfolio reporting integration, on-chain cost basis tracking, HIFO versus FIFO crypto tax lot accounting, Lukka crypto tax calculation, SEC Regulation Best Interest for digital asset recommendations, FINRA Notice 21-25, IRS virtual currency reporting. Platforms: Addepar, Orion, Alto IRA, Anchorage Digital, Ledger, Coldcard, Gnosis Safe, Arch, Lukka.
Retail and Consumer Banking
Lines of Business
Digital Banking and Neobank, Payments and Transfers, Lending and Credit, Deposits and Savings.
Functional Areas
Product and Innovation, Technology and Architecture, Customer Experience, Risk and Credit, Regulatory and Compliance.
Specialist Roles
Fractional Chief CBDC and Digital Payments Architect, Interim Digital Lending Risk Director. Key expertise: CBDC account-based versus token-based architecture, offline payment capability design, privacy-preserving transaction design meeting FinCEN AML obligations, ISO 20022 migration and blockchain enrichment, stablecoin cross-border payment rail replacing SWIFT correspondent flows, crypto-collateralized consumer loan OCC approval process, liquidation-to-value ratio methodology for volatile crypto collateral, dynamic margin call triggers for 24-7 crypto markets, Basel III SCO60 for crypto-secured retail credit, on-chain wallet transaction data for alternative credit scoring, OCC National Bank Act crypto custody interpretation, Federal Reserve SR 22-6, CFPB UDAAP risk. Platforms: Galileo, Ripple ODL, Circle USDC, Sardine, Unit21, MX, Plaid, Persona.
Fintech and Payments
Lines of Business
Payment Infrastructure, Digital Lending and Credit, RegTech and Compliance, Embedded Finance, Open Banking and Data, Digital Identity and KYC.
Functional Areas
Product and Growth, Engineering and Architecture, Partnerships and BD, Risk and Fraud, Regulatory Strategy.
Specialist Roles
Fractional Chief Blockchain Payment Infrastructure Architect, Interim Decentralized Identity and Regulatory Strategy Director, Fractional Head of Open Banking and Web3 Data Architecture. Key expertise: stablecoin payment rail design using USDC and CCTP, fiat on-off ramp integration with ACH and SEPA, W3C Decentralized Identifier standard, Verifiable Credential data model, FATF Travel Rule technical implementation including TRISA TRP and OpenVASP interoperability, FinCEN CIP rule interpretation for blockchain-based KYC, zero-knowledge proof systems for privacy-preserving financial data sharing using zk-SNARKs, Chainlink external adapter for bringing bank account data on-chain, EU Electronic Money Institution licensing, NYDFS BitLicense, FSB stablecoin regulatory framework, PSD2 interaction with DeFi. Platforms: Circle USDC and CCTP, Stripe crypto APIs, Checkout.com, Persona, Compliance.ai, Chainalysis, Plaid, MX, Chainlink, Circom ZK proof development.
Insurance and Reinsurance
Lines of Business
Property and Casualty, Life and Annuities, Reinsurance, InsurTech, Specialty Lines.
Functional Areas
Product and Underwriting, Technology and Innovation, Actuarial and Risk, Claims and Operations, Compliance and Legal.
Specialist Roles
Fractional Chief Parametric Insurance Technology Architect, Interim Tokenized Reinsurance Product Director, Fractional Head of Tokenized Life and Annuity Technology, Interim InsurTech Blockchain Platform Director, Fractional Head of Digital Asset Specialty Lines. Key expertise: multi-oracle aggregation using Chainlink decentralized oracle networks with NOAA and Swiss Re CatNet data for parametric triggers, basis risk actuarial analysis for parametric products, ERC-1400 tranched catastrophe bond issuance, smart contract coupon and principal distribution for ILS, Cayman Islands special purpose insurer framework for tokenized ILS, smart contract life and annuity policy lifecycle automation, mortality table oracle infrastructure, decentralized insurance protocol design including Nexus Mutual and Etherisc architecture, smart contract security evaluation for digital asset specialty underwriting, NAIC digital asset investment guidance, Solvency II admissible asset treatment, Lloyd's digital asset underwriting risk appetite, NYDFS Circular Letter 2021. Platforms: Chainlink, Etherisc, RMS catastrophe modeling, AIR Worldwide, Nasdaq Compound Capital Markets, Hannover Re ILS frameworks, Duck Creek, Guidewire, Certora, Trail of Bits, Chainalysis.
Contact
To discuss an interim leader mandate across any of these specialisms, contact David McInnis at david.mcinnis@willardpowell.com or visit willardpowell.com.
Senior expertise,
deployed with precision.
When critical programs stall, leadership gaps emerge, or transformation mandates require depth that doesn't exist in-house, Willard Powell places battle-tested interim leaders who step in and execute from day one.
Our Interim Leader practice was built on a single conviction: the most consequential moments in an institution's evolution require people who have already solved the problem before. We maintain an active network of senior practitioners, including former Managing Directors, Chief Technology Officers, Heads of Risk, and transformation principals, who have led programs of genuine scale inside the world's most demanding financial services environments.
What distinguishes our placements is specificity. We do not source generalists and reframe their experience. Every consultant in our network carries deep domain fluency in Web3 infrastructure, digital asset strategy, or the institutional workflows that underpin them, from on-chain settlement architecture and tokenization program delivery to regulatory engagement and DeFi risk governance. Each engagement is scoped carefully and matched with precision, ensuring that the individual who arrives is qualified to lead independently, not to shadow your existing team.
Mandates typically run six to eighteen months and are structured to transfer capability, not create dependency. Our clients include leading global banks, asset managers, hedge funds, and fintech platforms at pivotal points in their digital asset journeys.