Washington, D.C., July 11, 2008 – The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Wayne Strumpfer has been named to lead the investor education unit within the SEC’s recently expanded Office of Investor Education and Advocacy. Mr. Strumpfer will be responsible for leading the SEC’s efforts to help Americans of all ages better learn how to invest wisely and avoid costly mistakes and financial scams.
The Office of Investor Education and Outreach is one of four units created within the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA) after SEC Chairman Christopher Cox directed an expansion of the Commission’s investor advocacy and outreach initiatives beginning last year. Mr. Strumpfer joined the SEC’s OIEA staff this week as Assistant Director, Investor Education. He worked most recently at the California Department of Corporations, where he was the Deputy Commissioner of Enforcement and Investor Education. He also has served as the Chairman of the Investor Education Section for the North American Securities Administrators Association.
“I am so pleased that Wayne has agreed to join the SEC staff,” said Kristi Kaepplein, Director of the SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy. “Wayne’s experience in investor education and outreach as well as in securities law enforcement and fraud victim assistance for the nation’s most populous state will greatly benefit the Commission and the investors we serve.”
Mr. Strumpfer said, “I am looking forward to this new opportunity with the SEC to serve individual investors on a national level and help ensure they are armed with the requisite knowledge to make wise investments.”
In addition to his prior duties as Deputy Commissioner in California, Mr. Strumpfer has worked closely with many state and federal regulators to promote investor education and financial literacy. During his tenure in California, the state enhanced its nationally recognized senior protection project and created a program to assist military members and their families to avoid financial fraud. On a national level, Mr. Strumpfer produced a publication aimed at educating law enforcement about securities fraud, and has coordinated investor education efforts in many states. He also served as a member of the Board of Trustees for the national Investor Protection Trust.
Prior to his tenure with the Department of Corporations, Mr. Strumpfer served as Deputy Attorney General and in other important legal and legislative roles in California, including Deputy Executive Director of the California District Attorneys Association, Executive Director of the Office of Criminal Justice Planning, and Executive Director of the Fair Political Practices Commission.
The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy was expanded last year by Chairman Cox to ensure that the views of individual investors inform the Commission’s regulatory policies and disclosure initiatives. Among the Commission’s key projects aimed at retail investors are educating senior investors about protecting themselves from securities fraud, promoting the use of “plain English” in investment disclosures, and informing investors how “interactive data” can make disclosures more useful to them. OIEA has contact with tens of thousands of individual U.S. investors each year through its investor assistance and education programs. The four units within OIEA are the Office of Investor Education and Outreach, the Office of Policy, the Office of the Freedom of Information Act, and the Office of Investor Assistance.
