Vullo confirmed as NY superintendent of financial services

Albany, NY The New York State Senate has confirmed governor Andrew Cuomo’s nomination of Maria Vullo as superintendent of the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS). As superintendent, Vullo is responsible for regulating more than 1,500 insurance companies and nearly 1,600 banking and other financial institutions. Vullo has served as Acting Superintendent since February when she was nominated by governor Cuomo to lead DFS.

“I am honored to be confirmed to serve as Superintendent of the Department of Financial Services,” Superintendent Vullo said. “I thank Governor Cuomo and the Members of the New York State Senate for the privilege to once again serve the people of New York State. As Superintendent, I am committed to strengthening New York’s status as the financial capital of the world, protecting consumers, and ensuring that everyone follows the law. As a lifelong New Yorker, I look forward to leading initiatives that provide all communities throughout the state with fair and effective financial services.”

Prior to coming to DFS, Superintendent Vullo was a litigation partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, where she led civil, criminal, and regulatory investigations before courts and governmental authorities across the country. She also served as Executive Deputy Attorney General for Economic Justice Division in the Office of the New York State Attorney General, under then Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. While working in the Attorney General’s Office, Superintendent Vullo oversaw the Bureaus of Investor Protection, Antitrust, Real Estate Finance, Consumer Frauds and Internet and led numerous investigations to protect investors and consumers from fraud and unfair practices.

An accomplished trial lawyer, Superintendent Vullo’s legal experience has included litigations and investigations involving fraud, real estate, health care, insurance, tax, consumer protection, bankruptcy, antitrust, and constitutional law. She also has argued appeals before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second, Ninth, and Tenth Circuits, and the New York State Appellate Division.

Superintendent Vullo is a recognized leader in protecting women’s rights in a variety of cases, including representing women raped by soldiers during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War – a case in which she secured a $745 million jury verdict for the plaintiffs. Her pro bono work included representing abortion providers whose lives had been threatened via an online “hit list;” in that case she secured a $100 million jury verdict for the plaintiffs.

Superintendent Vullo was twice nominated by the New York State Commission on Judicial Nomination as a candidate for Associate Judge of the Court of Appeals. She recently received the New York Women Making a Difference Award from Eleanor’s Legacy, the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Interfaith Nutrition Network, and the Distinguished Corporate Citizen Award from A Better Balance, among many other awards and professional recognitions. Superintendent Vullo repeatedly has been named a “New York Super Lawyer” by Super Lawyers Magazine and has been included in numerous leading lawyer lists published by the National Law Journal and other leading publications.

Superintendent Vullo earned her J.D. from New York University School of Law, an M.P.A. from the New York University Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, and a B.A. from the College of Mount Saint Vincent. She clerked for the Hon. John A. MacKenzie, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia prior to entering private practice.