Recent SEC Commissioner Wallman Joins Brookings as Senior Fellow

The Brookings Institution is pleased to announce that Steven. M. H. Wallman, recent commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is joining Brookings as a non-resident senior fellow. Wallman will focus on issues he wrestled with while at the SEC, including electronic commerce, capital markets, and financial services.

“In this period of rapidly evolving technologies, Steve Wallman’s experience will greatly enrich our market policy analysis,” said Brookings President Michael H. Armacost.

At the SEC, Wallman played a leadership role in key initiatives, including:

• Scrutiny of electronic commerce and the impact of technology on market structure, capital formation, offerings, disclosure, and trading

• The transition to a decimal dollars-and-cents market from a system of broader point fractions

• The Commission’s Advisory Committee on Capital Formation, which, under Wallman’s chairmanship, recommended a company registration model streamlining the securities issuance process while adding investor safeguards

• The examination of accounting and disclosure requirements relating to intangible assets such as intellectual property and human capital

Wallman also played a major role in developing the Council of the Securities Regulators of the Americas, which includes the securities commissions of North, South and Central America.

Brookings Economic Studies Director Robert Litan said, “We are extremely fortunate to have someone of Steve’s professional background and experience join our program.”

Wallman, 43, was formerly a partner in the firm of Covington & Burling, where he specialized in corporate, securities, contract, and business law. He and his wife Kathy live in Great Falls, Virginia.