State Securities Director Receives
Distinguished Managerial Service Award

October 16, 2007

Commissioner Howard Pitkin  and Ralph Lambiase

Ralph A. Lambiase, of Marlborough, Director of the Securities and Business Investments Division for the Department of Banking, received the Distinguished Managerial Service Award for his exemplary leadership in state service. The award was presented last Friday at State Manager’s Day, which is held annual each Fall. Mr. Lambiase is one of only three state employees selected by the state’s Management Advisory Council to receive the Distinguished Managerial Service Award for 2007. 

Mr. Lambiase was recognized for his long career in state service and his tireless commitment to protect Connecticut investors. He joined the Department of Banking in 1977 as Director of Securities Enforcement and Registration, and was named Division Director in 1987. He believes the job of his division is straightforward – to protect the citizens of our state who invest. For the past 30 years he has done just that, and has made a name for himself locally and nationally as “the Regulator Broker-Dealers Love to Hate.”

He enforces state securities laws by fining, penalizing and prosecuting those who violate the law, and takes pride in providing restitution to investors who have suffered losses because of unscrupulous violators. Most notably, Mr. Lambiase has been a strong advocate of protecting the public through investor education, and believes the firms that violate the laws and harm investors should contribute to this cause. 

For example, Mr. Lambiase recently negotiated and structured settlements with Merrill Lynch and UBS for alleged violations of state securities laws that will have Merrill Lynch pay $500,000 to the National White Collar Crime Center by July 2009 for training of Connecticut regulators, prosecutors, investigators and police officers in the investigation and prosecution of financial crimes, and UBS pay $250,000 by July 2008 for training tailored to preventing these types of crimes against seniors. These two settlements additionally call for the companies to provide funding of over $4 million to the Departments of Education, Higher Education and Social Services for financial literacy programs in schools and state agencies.

In September 2003, Mr. Lambiase was elected President of the North American Securities Administrators Association in 2003 for a one year-term, where he served as a national advocate for state securities regulation. 

Governor M. Jodi Rell said, “Ralph Lambiase has spent his entire career devoted to protecting Connecticut’s investors, and for that I am deeply grateful. This award recognizes the exceptional accomplishments he has achieved over the course of that career. I want to congratulate Mr. Lambiase on this very deserving award.”