Kazuko Wachter is General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at EquiLend, a technology provider for the global securities finance marketplace, where she oversees global legal and regulatory matters for the company. Previously, she was Chief Legal and Strategy Officer of Prism Financial Products, a hybrid securities brokerage and fintech firm with offices across the UK, Europe, and New York. Prior to joining Prism, Kazuko was the Division General Counsel of the Content Solutions Division at Moody’s, the fintech arm of the Moody's Corporation. At Moody’s, she won the Blake Award, which is bestowed upon the top deal negotiating attorney, as voted by the global sales management. Prior to Moody’s, she was a lawyer for the law firm Arnold & Porter LLP, where she specialized in corporate and securities matters and transactional intellectual property law, representing both public and private companies.

Kazuko is a leader in the AANHPI legal community, serving as Board Director (2020-2024), Co-Chair of the In-House Counsel Committee (2023-2025), and Board Liaison of the Mentoring Committee and Women’s Committee of the Asian American Bar Association of New York. She also served as the Co-Chair of the Moody's Asian Leadership Initiative from 2017-2019, where she led numerous professional development programs for the advancement and retention of Asian and Pacific American talent, including the launch of the first ever mentoring program for Asian employees at Moody's. She is also a member of L Suite, an invite-only global community of general counsels, Women’s General Counsel Network, an invite-only network of women general counsels, and WOMN, an executive women’s network. She has a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, and a J.D. from Temple University, where she was also a member of the Political and Civil Rights Law Review.

2024 Awardee:

Hannah Kim

2023 Awardees:

Ivan K. Fong

Simone Wu

2022 Awardees:

Christina Lee

Alan Tse

2019 Awardee:

Michael C. Wu

2017 Awardee:

John Kuo