Thomas Merchant

Tom Merchant is executive vice president, general counsel and secretary for Franklin Templeton. Mr. Merchant oversees the Company's Legal and Compliance divisions, including the Legal, Regulatory Compliance, Investment Compliance, and Internal Audit departments. In addition, he is a member of Franklin Templeton executive committee, a small group of the company's top leaders responsible for shaping the firm's overall strategy.

Mr. Merchant joined Franklin Templeton from Legg Mason after the transaction closed on July 31, 2020. Previous to his current position, Mr. Merchant was the Deputy General Counsel and Head of Franklin Templeton Regulatory Compliance for Franklin Templeton. In this role, he was directly responsible for regulatory compliance; internal audit; contracts and intellectual property; and other matters.

At Legg Mason, Mr. Merchant progressed in his roles to include Vice President, General Counsel-Corporate and Corporate Secretary, while successfully leading the Company's Corporate Legal Department. As head of the Corporate Legal Department, he was responsible for overseeing all legal aspects of corporate transactions, including acquisitions, dispositions and financings, public company reporting requirements and annual stockholder meetings. In his role as General Counsel for the seven years until the acquisition closed, Mr. Merchant oversaw the Firms legal and compliance divisions, which included corporate legal, litigation, international legal, mutual funds along with its worldwide compliance function and risk and internal audit groups.

Prior to joining Legg Mason, Mr. Merchant was a Corporate Associate at Shearman & Sterling in New York from 1993-1998. He earned a B.S. in Economics from Penn State University, graduating with honors and high distinction. Tom received a J.D. from New York University School of Law.