Certificate Clearing Corporation is the claims recovery industry leader thanks to a unique blend of legal and financial expertise.
James Tharin Founder and CEO
James Tharin Founder and CEO
Securities class action claim filing is a natural fit for James Tharin.
After graduating from Carleton College in 1981, Jim joined Merrill Lynch and then Shearson/American Express as a retail account executive. In 1985, Jim joined Fossett Corporation as a broker/dealer market making member of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE). Jim worked the wild trading pits of the CBOE as Fossett Corporation's Vice President of Trading and as CEO of Jackson Financial Group. Through his service on several key CBOE committees, he helped build the options industry into the massive derivatives market that we know today.
In 1993, Jim founded Certificate Clearing Corporation (CCC). Under his leadership the firm became the preeminent class action coupon market maker in the United States. CCC recovered over $300 million dollars for harmed class members in 20 unique class action coupon settlements. Jim and CCC pioneered the most effective methods to bring tremendous value to the class action coupon claimant, predominately in settlements where they would have otherwise received nothing.
Jim's dual expertise in trading and class actions made CCC uniquely qualified to segue its class action coupon business to class action securities claim filing. CCC is now the undisputed champion and unquestionably the world’s leading class action securities claim filing provider. Today, CCC has 2,155 institutional clients that represent over 5 million individual accounts and manage assets of more than $5 Trillion. Since 2005, CCC has impeccably filed more than 10 million claims and recovered nearly $1 Billion for its securities class action clients worldwide. With the never-ending parade of class actions, CCC’s numbers simply grow and grow.
Over the many years, Jim has actively engaged all things class action – the forefather of class action claim filing. Jim has served as an expert witness and proffered affidavits in countless class action lawsuits. He was a member of the class action advisory panel of the Federal Trade Commission. He has been cited in the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, San Francisco Daily Law Bulletin, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Crain's Business and NBC News, among other outlets. Jim founded the Class Action Committee (now working group) of the Corporate Action Section of SIFMA nearly 10 years ago and remains its Chairman today.
Brian Blockovich President and General Counsel
Brian Blockovich President and General Counsel
Brian Blockovich joined CCC in 1995 and has served as President and General Counsel since 2002. He leads sales and business development at the firm, and oversees all legal matters. Brian has been instrumental in both the dramatic growth of CCC and the signing and satisfaction of its 1,100 clients and numerous partnerships. Brian graduated from the University of Illinois in 1991 and from the Loyola University School of Law in 1994. He has testified before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight, the Civil Rules Advisory Committee, and the White House Counsel of Economic Advisors. His comments on proposed amendments to Federal Rule 23 were published and presented at the National Institute on Class Actions. Along with Jim, Brian co-authored Coupons and the Class Action Fairness Act for the Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics. In addition to his professional accomplishments, Brian is also a gifted improvisational comedian. During the 1990s, he performed with many influential improvisation teams (Monster Island and Rockstars of Siam, to name a few). Today, his photo hangs on the wall of Chicago's famous IO Comedy Theater.
Dianne Hively Chief Compliance Officer
Dianne Hively Chief Compliance Officer
Experienced in finance, compliance, marketing, consulting and accounting, Dianne helps CCC maintain an efficient and secure claims filing system and each year meet the stringent requirements for our SOC I certification. She also directs internal controls, oversees operations procedures and manages CCC's voluminous vendor review requests.
Before joining CCC in 2011, Dianne worked at Brookfield Redding, an Asset Manager in Global REIT and Infrastructure Securities where she was Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Vice President of Marketing. Before Brookfield Redding, Dianne was Chief Financial Officer of Pax Clearing. Dianne graduated from the University of Illinois in 1993 with a BS in Accountancy, and received her M.S. in Financial Markets in 2003 from the Illinois Institute of Technology. Dianne holds NASD Series 3, 7, 24, and 27 licenses, and is a certified yoga instructor.
Matt Murray Senior Vice President Sales
Matt Murray Senior Vice President Sales
With years of experience helping money managers navigate the securities class action world, Matt Murray leads our sales team here at CCC. He also works closely with our operations staff to optimize the claim filing process and to contour our services to our clients' needs. Since 2006, Matt has been working with over 500 institutional client firms, with assets under management exceeding $500 billion. After receiving his B.A. from Villanova University, Matt worked in commercial and residential real estate in lending, financial analysis, and sales. He joined CCC in 2004 to broker Sotheby's and Christie's auction houses class action certificates, and today co-manages the sales staff with Brian Blockovich.
Mandy Marino Account Associate
Mandy Marino Account Associate
Frank Petersen Senior Account Executive
Gerry BoschwitzSenior Account Associate
Before joining CCC, Frank spent 26 years as a financial consultant with large wire house firms. He has worked with Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, and EF Hutton, among others. With his intimate knowledge of trading and trade data, he adds yet another bit of depth to the CCC sales roster. Frank graduated from Northern Michigan University and did graduate studies at the University of Utah. He's an avid golfer, runner, and tennis player, and a father of three.
David Grondy Data Operations Manager
David GrondyData Operations Manager
Dave manages all retrieval, audit review and integration of incoming client trade data into CCC's database, no matter the condition it's in. Through CCC's numerous bank trust partnerships, Dave has become the world's leading expert in consolidating all bank trust software, both current and legacy, into one consistent stream of integrated history. After studying at Chicago's DePaul University, he became a bond arbitrage clerk on the Chicago Board of Trade. Dave's responsibilities grew as he held senior technology management positions for commodity/securities firms such as Stotler & Co, Index Futures Group, and LaSalle St. Securities where he managed computer and network/market data operations for futures traders at the Chicago Board of Trade, Kansas City Board of Trade, and New York Futures Exchanges. He was a market data information integration manager at Automatic Data Processing's Brokerage Info Services Group. During the ten years before joining CCC in 2009, Dave worked for Dow Jones & Co. in global market news, information delivery, and integration.
Bill Tomczak Chief Financial Officer
Bill Tomczak Chief Financial Officer
Bill oversees CCC's financial accounting and reporting processes. Bill manages the reconciliation of all payments from claims administrators to CCC and all payments from CCC to CCC's clients. Bill also oversees the online reporting of those claims to CCC's 1,800+ clients. Bill graduated from Northern Illinois University in 1994 and received his Masters in Financial Markets at the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2002. Before joining CCC, Bill was a financial analyst at the Northern Trust Company, a regulator on The Chicago Board Options Exchange, a financial compliance officer at Merrill Lynch, and at Pax Clearing, where he served as a financial compliance officer. Bill joined CCC in 2008.
Jenn Marino Senior Operations Associate
Jenn MarinoSenior Operations Associate
