Barry Wides is a former federal bank regulatory executive with a broad perspective on industry risks, regulations, and policies acquired through four decades of experience working with bank management, legislators, and regulators. He is a leader of Artisan’s Risk Management practice and counsels clients on a broad range of compliance, regulatory, and strategic matters. 

For more than 20 years, Barry served as a Deputy Comptroller in Bank Supervision Policy at the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). In this capacity, he had responsibility for the administration of the public welfare investment authority permitting bank equity investments in commercial real estate projects. He facilitated legislative and regulatory changes as well as policy and legal interpretations enabling more than $200 billion of public welfare investments by national banks. 

He was a key member of OCC’s team, which reviewed bank merger applications, developed decision letter recommendations, and established conditions for merger approvals. He engaged with the Department of Justice on merger competitive analysis as well as the CFPB, FRB, and FDIC on other merger regulatory considerations. He also served on the OCC’s Responsible Innovation Committee and played a key role in shaping the agency’s fintech-related policies.  

Barry has extensive experience in residential mortgage finance. From 2020-2024, he led OCC’s Project REACh Affordable Homeownership workstream which involved bringing together housing leaders to eliminate regulatory barriers and facilitate new approaches for more inclusive mortgage finance. Prior to joining OCC, he led a team at Freddie Mac responsible for purchasing mortgage loans meeting congressionally mandated affordable housing goals.   

Barry began his career as a housing finance budget examiner in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget responsible for federal budget analysis, policy evaluation, and legislative liaison for the Federal Housing Administration, Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  

Barry received a BS in Accounting and MBA in Business Economics from Indiana University and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant in the State of Maryland.