A Day in a New York Life: the Foundational Business' Stacey Simbal.

The Day in a New York Life article series offers a look into the daily lives of employees: what they do, their career paths, what they find most interesting about their jobs, and how they spend their time outside of the office.

Stacey Simbal is part of the Compliance & Risk Oversight team in Foundational Business Operations & Shared Services, which handles regulatory compliance and implementation, market conduct exams and data calls (FINRA, SEC, etc.), and compliance reporting. Simbal works closely with Corporate Compliance, Office of Governmental Affairs (OGA), Office of the General Counsel (OGC), and Technology as part of her work supporting the value streams.

When Simbal joined New York Life in 2011, she had recently graduated from college with a degree in Marketing. “I saw myself landing a glitzy, glamorous sales job, but as I interviewed for those kinds of roles, I realized it wasn’t where I wanted to be,” she says.

Then she interviewed with New York Life for a role in the Claims department and everything aligned. “I didn’t know much about the insurance industry, but I knew the company was excellent, and everyone I interviewed with had been here for years. I also saw that the company was large enough that I could do anything, including pivot back to marketing eventually,” she says.

Simbal started out processing claims and taking calls from beneficiaries. She eventually began leading a team and then she began handling regulatory components for claims. A chance meeting led to her current role. “We had a flood in the office, and I went in to help. My current boss, Regina Wan, was also there due to her role with business continuity for the office, and that’s how we met,” Simbal says. When Wan was hiring for her team, Simbal interviewed since she had some experience with the work Regina’s team was doing and landed the role.

In her current role, Simbal leads a three-person team focused on four pillars:

• External examinations: They handle examinations from regulatory bodies (e.g., any state’s Department of Insurance, FINRA, or the SEC) that fall into the Service Experience, the Purchase Experience, and Field Operations Value Streams. “We work with the business to compile, review, and validate data and documentation requested by the examiners before partnering with the Office of General Counsel to submit responses to the regulatory body. These efforts ensure that we are providing accurate information to help the enterprise reduce risks and proactively deal with issues that may surface,” says Simbal.
• Regulatory reviews: When states issue legislative bulletins, the team reviews each bulletin to determine any impacts to the value streams. They track, monitor and oversee the implementation of any regulatory bulletins in partnership with OGA to ensure cohesive implementation across the enterprise.
• Issues tracking: When issues are self-identified or flagged during an examination, the team tracks and serves as a liaison to ensure remediation and further compliance of all issues. This ensures that down the line we are operating in a proactive environment, allowing the team and its business partners to be aware of any regulatory or compliance gaps prior to an examination.
• Compliance reports: The team creates daily, weekly, and monthly compliance reports that allow the company to flag any compliance issues in real time. This enabled the team to eliminate compliance violations, as well as provide  business partners with trending information on processing errors and training opportunities.  

Simbal also drives strategic initiatives. “This year, we’re working on a new platform for tracking regulatory issues and revamping reporting to develop a more cohesive product that encompasses not just what my team does, but work across the Foundational Business,” she says. 

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