Vincent Mekles

Before joining Ankura, Vincent served as Deputy Executive Director of the New Jersey Governor’s Office of Recovery and Rebuilding. In that role, he was responsible for developing, coordinating, and overseeing all aspects of the state’s multi-billion-dollar recovery effort following Hurricane Sandy, a presidentially declared disaster and the most destructive storm in New Jersey history. Vincent’s work included developing and overseeing efforts to identify and mitigate risks of waste, fraud, and abuse, and interfacing daily with various federal and state legal and regulatory authorities regarding compliance efforts and performance metrics.

Previously, Vincent served as a litigation associate at the law firm of Latham & Watkins LLP. There, he focused on complex commercial litigations, corporate investigations, and regulatory actions. Vincent directly advised executive leadership and senior managers of various large, publicly traded and private corporations on governance matters, risk assessments, and litigation decisions. Vincent also had the honor of serving as a law clerk to Justice Jaynee LaVecchia of the New Jersey Supreme Court.

Vincent’s professional experience includes the following:

• Principal third-party monitor for a CFIUS-required National Security Agreement relating to the acquisition of a global medical technology firm by non-U.S. (including Chinese) investors.
• Principal third-party monitor for a CFIUS-required National Security Agreement relating to the acquisition of a global financial services firm by a Chinese company.
• Principal third-party monitor for a CFIUS-required National Security Agreement relating to divestiture of foreign interests in and data security at an aerospace technology company.
• Principal third-party auditor of an automobile technology company’s compliance with CFIUS-mandated security requirements relating to and physical and logical protection of sensitive technical data, cybersecurity, access control, and governance.
• Principal third-party auditor of a Big 4 accounting firm’s compliance with CFIUS-mandated security requirements relating to identification and disposition of sensitive data and access control.
• Principal third-party auditor of a financial services firm’s compliance with CFIUS-mandated security requirements that included physical and logical protection of sensitive data, cybersecurity, access control, and governance.
• Principal auditor for a financial service company’s compliance with data protection requirements imposed by a Canadian regulator.
• Led the independent oversight and reporting functions in connection with a court appointment to oversee a multi-billion-dollar settlement of consumer class action and regulatory enforcement suits brought against a global automobile manufacturer.
• Developed and implemented the funding distribution process for a multi-billion-dollar insurance subrogation trust settlement to assure eligibility and award determinations aligned with governing settlement documents.
• Assisted a large government transportation agency with compliance requirements associated with the receipt of funding from the Federal Transportation Authority.
• Developed and implemented anti-fraud measures as well as key performance indicators associated with the deployment of federal funds disbursed by multiple agencies, oversaw the development of tools to measure KPIs and facilitate the development of a transparency website, and routinely prepared reports for federal and state regulators.
• Represented various large financial institutions in complex commercial litigations, white-collar defense, and regulatory compliance matters.
• Represented various large private companies in business-to-business disputes, employment and insurance matters, and other disputes.