Matthew J. Sanicola, PMP
Principal, Consulting Services
Matthew J. Sanicola is a Founding Principal of Vernon Capital Strategic Solutions. Matt has 15+ years of financial services and consulting experience with a specific focus on Internal Audit, Risk and Compliance, and Regulatory Transformation Initiatives.
Prior to joining Vernon Capital, Matt served numerous top 10 financial institutions in a variety of leadership capacities. Recent accomplishments include (i) serving as a Program Executive and Deliverance Lead for Regulatory Remediation, Transformation, and Enterprise Risk initiatives; (ii) Internal Audit (IA) Execution focused on building and developing core IA risk-based programs; and (iii) Governance assessment and enhancement of Compliance Risk Management Executive Reporting and overall Compliance Framework.
Matt holds an MBA from Wake Forest University and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). Matt and his wife Liz reside in Charlotte with their daughter Isabela. In his spare time, he enjoys outdoor activities including watersports, hiking, skiing, and auto racing at Carolina Motorsports Park.
David H. Annis, Ph.D.
Principal, Risk & Analytics
David H. Annis, Ph.D. is Founding Principal of Vernon Capital Strategic Solutions. He most recently led Wells Fargo's Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR) and Central Counterparty (CCP) analytics team and was previously Head of Trading and Risk Model Validation, where his team was responsible for validation and oversight of over 100 models used for evaluating and overseeing market and counterparty risk arising from derivative transactions.
Before transitioning to finance, Dr. Annis taught at the Naval Postgraduate School where, as a member of the Operations Research faculty, he held a Level3 (Top Secret) Department of Defense security clearance and published over a dozen peer-reviewed research papers. He devised a long-range surveillance technique using signal processing and pattern recognition at Los Alamos National Laboratory and began his career at Pratt & Whitney designing compressor hardware for military jet engines.
Dr. Annis earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in Mathematical Statistics from Purdue University, holds engineering degrees from Purdue and the University of Florida and earned his MBA with Distinction from Warwick Business School (UK), researching investment strategies based on European volatility derivatives.
Mark P. Kust, CFA
Principal, Operations
Mark P. Kust is a Founding Principal of Vernon Capital Strategic Solutions. He is a CFA Charterholder and PRMIA Professional Risk Manager (PRM) and most recently led the CRO Model Risk and Governance function at the World Bank Group. Mark was previously Head of Model, Market and Strategic Risk Management at Brighthouse Financial where he designed, implemented and led that firm’s Model Risk Management function. He co-led Model Validation for Ally Financial after leading Capital Markets Model Validation Analysis and Support for Wells Fargo. While at Wells, Mark held a variety of roles on the Commodity Derivatives Trading Desk, spanning Business Management, Technology, Structured Pricing, Quantitative Analysis and Risk Management.
Prior to Mark’s tenure in financial services, he was a technology executive. He led Dell’s Intranet Standards and Applications groups in the late 1990s, and was co-founder and Chief Information Officer for ChemCodes Inc., an entrepreneurial life sciences firm. At ChemCodes Mark designed novel pattern recognition algorithms for processing high throughput mass spectroscopy signals and designed and implemented a full lifecycle Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS).
Mark began his career at Los Alamos National Laboratory and has graduate degrees in engineering and mathematics from Stanford University, and an MBA from Duke University.
