In his role as Special Advisor to DTCC Government Relations, LaFleur will help establish and manage the company's political and policy relationships with sovereign legislatures, regulatory agencies and other governmental bodies across the Asia Pacific region. LaFleur will report to Dan Cohen, Managing Director and Head of DTCC's Government Relations group.

"Chris LaFleur's four decades of service as a diplomat and his experience as an Ambassador representing the United States in the Asia Pacific region will be invaluable as DTCC expands our business globally to meet the growing post-trade needs of regulators and market participants," said Cohen. "His years of service in the region, especially in Japan, along with his in-depth knowledge of the financial services community, will help us further raise awareness of the critical role that DTCC plays in global financial markets."

"I am excited by the opportunity to utilize my background in the Foreign Service as well as the financial world to expand collaboration and dialogue between DTCC and regional governments as new financial regulations are developed across Asia," LaFleur said. "I have been immensely impressed with DTCC's commitment to mitigating risk and ensuring market transparency for regulators and the public. My primary responsibility will be to build upon DTCC's relationships with key stakeholders in the region and provide strategic counsel as the company continues to expand business operations globally."

LaFleur served as Ambassador to Malaysia from 2004 to 2007 and was Vice Chairman and Head of Government Relations and Corporate Responsibility at J.P. Morgan Japan from 2008-2011. Prior to that, he held a wide variety of senior U.S. Foreign Service positions managing diplomacy with Asia, including as Director of the State Department's Office of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, Deputy Director of the American Institute in Taiwan, Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs. In 2003-2004, he headed the State Department team in talks charting the future of the US alliances with Japan and the Republic of Korea and served as the Cyrus Vance Fellow in Diplomatic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. Most recently, LaFleur founded LM Associates in 2011.