Joseph J. Thomas

Joseph Thomas is a Director with Bates Group, working out of St. Louis, MO. Mr. Thomas has thirty years of securities industry compliance, supervision, operations and administration experience. He has an educational background in quantitative management, and work experience leading teams of associates, implementing process and workflow changes, and developing supervisory systems and policies. In addition, Mr. Thomas has provided quantitative and substantive witness testimony and opinions in over 100 retail securities litigation, arbitration, and court matters.

While with Wells Fargo/Wachovia Securities/A.G. Edwards & Sons, as Vice President and Finance Manager/Litigation Auditor, Mr. Thomas was responsible for coordinating and supervising the preparation of financial and damages analysis reports. He was also responsible for consulting and providing opinions on trading patterns, investment product and market risk analysis, investment cost analysis and case assessment related to securities litigation. In addition, Mr. Thomas provided expert testimony during legal proceedings as to the validity of the financial data and substantive matters including compliance procedures and supervision. Mr. Thomas also served on the Wells Fargo Advisors Information Governance Board, Information Strategy Initiative Committee, Business Continuity Council, and Service Break Committee, Firm Incentive Award Advisory Committee and was a member of the Senior Leadership Council.

Prior to Wells Fargo, Mr. Thomas was with Edward Jones Investments for 17 years. In his role as Area Team Leader, his responsibilities included coordinating the sales and compliance supervision of approximately 780 Investment Representatives in the Southeastern United States, supervising a staff of Field Supervision Directors and providing oversight and development. Mr. Thomas coordinated branch compliance audits, developed and delivered educational training to the department as well as regional Investment Representative Meetings. He also served as firm representative in arbitration hearings and provided testimony regarding suitability, supervision systems, and performance analysis. Mr. Thomas also participated in Sales Practice Examinations with the NASD and NYSE on a regular basis.

While with Edward Jones, Mr. Thomas spent six years in a Field Supervision Director role where his responsibilities included daily oversight and supervision of 130 Investment Representatives as registered Branch Manager. He reviewed all daily trading activity, provided guidance and instructions directly to the Investment Representatives, and delivered education advice, and compliance presentations at regional meetings. Mr. Thomas conducted annual compliance audits and oversight of all functions of the branch office. During this time, he was also involved in the development of supervisory systems as well as an automated new account system.