Lopa Patel Zielinski

Lopa P. Zielinski serves as Executive Vice President, Corporate Secretary and Head of Governance at HSBC North America Holdings, Inc. She is responsible for all corporate governance matters relating to US Boards and subsidiaries within the complex HSBC global legal entity structure. She also has oversight of the internal organizational governance structure and serves as a member of the Executive Committee. 

Ms. Zielinski has an extensive background and wide range of experience in corporate governance, board counsel, and securities and financial regulation. In 2016, she was named to Ethisphere Institute’s Attorneys Who Matter list, in recognition of accomplishments in the legal field in furtherance of ethical business practice worldwide. 

Prior to joining HSBC in 2015, Ms. Zielinski served as Director and Associate General Counsel, Corporate Governance for TIAA, a full-service financial services group of companies. On behalf of the boards of the TIAA group of companies, Ms. Zielinski worked to enhance the governance and social responsibility practices of companies held within TIAA’s investment portfolios with the objectives of increasing shareholder value and improving long-term performance of targeted companies. She also provided counsel to the TIAA Board and Committees in her role as Assistant Corporate Secretary. Previously, Ms. Zielinski served as in-house securities and governance attorney for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc. In addition, she practiced corporate law in New York and New Jersey and has previous work experience with the NASD and White and Case, LLP. She also served as a judicial law clerk to the Honorable John A. O’Shaugnessy, in the Superior Court of New Jersey.

Ms. Zielinski received her LL.M. in securities and financial regulation from Georgetown University Law Center, her J.D. from New England School of Law, where she was a managing editor of the New England Law Review, and her B.A. from Lehigh University. She also served on the steering committee of the Women In Capital Markets group of the Center for Audit Quality and has served as faculty for the Practicing Law Institute, and Society for Corporate Governance.