Robert Watts

Branch Office Management and Supervision, Variable Products

Robert H. Watts is currently a consultant. He was previously Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer of the John Hancock Life Insurance Company, which included compliance responsibilities for Signator Investors, Inc. (the retail broker-dealer), John Hancock Funds, Inc. (the wholesale broker-dealer) and Essex National Securities, Inc. (the third-party broker-dealer). While at John Hancock, Mr. Watts was also responsible for the Office of Business Conduct, which focused corporate emphasis on ethical and market conduct issues, especially, that all products were distributed in compliance with applicable rules and regulations throughout the John Hancock Financial Services complex. Mr. Watts recently finished serving as Chairman of the Securities Industry/Regulatory Council on Continuing Education and is currently a member of the FINRA Independent Dealers/Insurance Affiliated Member Committee and the FINRA Board of Arbitrators. Mr. Watts is Past Chairman of the Life Insurance Marketing Research Association (LIMRA) Financial Products Committee and former Vice Chair of the FINRA District 11 Business Conduct Committee. Mr. Watts has spoken before many industry and regulatory groups including: SEC Division of Investment Management, FINRA Annual and Advertising Regulation Conferences, NASAA Annual Training Meeting. Mr. Watts has been a main platform speaker at the International Twenty-Five Million Dollar Forum. He is a graduate of Boston University, the Tuck Executive Program of Dartmouth College and the Indiana University Executive Management Program.