Throughout her more than 20 years as legal counsel for a financial services technology company, University of Colorado Law School alumna Tammy Campbell has seen her career grow with the times as technology has changed drastically.
Campbell is senior compliance counsel for Finastra, a global provider of technology solutions for financial institutions. She works to ensure that the company’s products are compliant with state and federal laws and regulations in the context of financial services.
Working as a lawyer in financial services was a logical choice for Campbell after practicing as a certified public accountant. After working as an accountant for several years post-college, she realized it was not her true calling. However, Campbell did not know her path would eventually lead her back to the world of money and numbers when she began law school.
“I just really knew I wanted to do something different,” she said.
As a Colorado native, Campbell said Colorado Law was a natural choice.
“CU was actually the only law school I applied to, so I was like, hey if I get in that’s great,” Campbell said.
Campbell did get into Colorado Law, and was active during her time there, serving on the University of Colorado Law Review and working in the legal aid clinic. Campbell remembers former Professor J. Dennis Hynes and his Contracts class as her true introduction to law school.
After law school, Campbell clerked for Colorado District Court Judge Christopher Munch in Jefferson County. She then worked in the Colorado Attorney General’s Office in the consumer protection section.
Campbell said her work in consumer protection, and specifically consumer credit issues, provided a logical transition to her current work, which involves ensuring that the financial institutions for which her company provides services are compliant with the various consumer protection regulations promulgated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and other agencies.
When Campbell began at Finastra (formerly under other names and ownership structures), she primarily wrote loan documents. Now, the company provides a broad array of banking platforms that are much more technologically advanced.
“The most interesting thing about my work is just to see how technology has evolved since I started in this business,” Campbell said. “When I first came onboard, there was no such thing as Internet or mobile banking. I’ve been able to work with a lot of different kinds of automated solutions in my time here, and my career has sort of evolved with technology.”
While the diversity of her work is a bonus, Campbell said her work is most fulfilling because of those around her.
“I work with a really great team of attorneys here,” Campbell said. “It’s as much about the people I work with as it is that things that I do.”
Campbell also attributes some of her success to those she knows outside of work. After her husband, Andy Fisher (‘90), passed away eight years ago, the support of her friends and family kept Campbell going, even when her life did not go as expected. Campbell spoke fondly of her son, Jake Fisher, and said that her late husband would be very proud of the person Jake has grown up to be.
When she’s not at work, Campbell is a member of the Colorado Episcopal Service Corps board, which offers opportunities for service and reflection to young adults in Denver and Steamboat Springs. She also enjoys traveling and spending time with her son and her “very nice 80-pound” goldendoodle, Lucy.
As for Campbell’s future plans at Finastra, she said, “This is pretty much what I plan to keep doing for a while longer, for sure.”
What is your fondest memory of being a student at Colorado Law?
Football games, sitting in the student section on many beautiful fall afternoons in Boulder. The Buffs were pretty good during the years I was in law school.
What do you know now that you wish you had known in law school?
To live in the moment and trust that you will wind up in the right place at the right time. I spent far too much time worrying about what was going to happen after law school. The time I spent as a law student went so quickly, but I still remember it as one of the best times of my life.
What advice would you give to current students as they’re preparing to graduate?
Treasure and hold on to the relationships you make in law school. I’m still close to many of the people I met at CU, and I’ve been enriched by those friendships in the years since we graduated in many ways.
Who was the biggest influence on your career?
Two of my early bosses: Judge Munch and Laura Udis at the Colorado AG’s office. Also, a great mentor here at Finastra, Mitch Lucas. All of them are great examples of integrity, professionalism, and compassion.
Of what accomplishment are you most proud?
Raising my son as a single mom after my husband passed away in 2009. I’ve had a lot of help, and it hasn’t always been easy. He’s a senior in high school now. I’m so very proud of him and all he’s achieved. I learn from him every day, and I can’t wait to see what’s next for him.