Donna Parisi is the Global Head of Finance covering bank finance, leveraged lending, project finance, restructuring and insolvency, and structured products and derivatives. She is the Derivatives Team Leader, is a Lead Industry Coordinator for Financial Institutions and spearhead’s the firm’s Family Office Group. Donna also leads Shearman & Sterling's FinTech Foundry, Shearman Women and is a member of the Firm’s Executive Group.

She advises clients on the full range of derivatives, structured products, securitization, capital markets and commodities matters. In particular, she helps clients develop and structure new financial products and has extensive experience in the negotiation and documentation of OTC derivative transactions across all asset classes. Donna has broad and deep knowledge of financial institutions, regulatory requirements and the evolving business landscape. A skilled practitioner and negotiator, she represents major financial institutions including Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Barclays, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, hedge funds and other private investment funds as well as corporate clients.

Donna also spearheads the firm’s FinTech Foundry program, which supports the FinTech-related activities of our clients and the wider global FinTech ecosystem including financial institutions, FinTech start-ups, accelerators and incubators, venture capital and private equity investors, and policymakers. The FinTech Foundry consists of three pillars:

  • Community support – To provide FinTechs and the broader ecosystem access to curated events and an opportunity to make new connections in the industry, we are launching the Shearman & Sterling FinTech Salon event series.
  • Thought leadership – To provide clients and FinTechs with access to the most relevant knowledge and intelligence to help them navigate the changing financial services landscape, our FinTech Insights, including collaborative industry reports and various forms of thought leadership, will be available on our FinTech webpage.
  • Mentorship & advice – To support the growing FinTech sector, we are launching the Shearman & Sterling FinTech Advisory mentorship program dedicated to supporting FinTech startups shaping the future of financial services.

In addition, Donna is a prominent thought leader and frequently serves as a moderator or panelist at events organized by the Financial Times, Glass Hammer, Thomson Reuters, FinTech Cocktail Club, WISER, ISDA and the Practising Law Institute, among others. Most recently, Donna has been named to Innovate Finance’s 2018 Women in FinTech Powerlist.