2007 Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation: Panelist and Moderator Biographies

Paul S. Atkins is a Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Commissioner Atkins' 22-year career has focused on the financial services industry and securities regulation. Before his appointment as SEC Commissioner, he assisted financial services firms in improving their compliance with SEC regulations and worked with law enforcement agencies to investigate and rectify situations where investors had been harmed. From 1990-94, Commissioner Atkins served on the staff of two former chairmen of the SEC, Richard C. Breeden and Arthur Levitt, ultimately as executive assistant and counselor, respectively. Under Chairman Breeden, he assisted in efforts to improve regulations regarding corporate governance, enhance shareholder communications, strengthen management accountability through proxy reform, and decrease barriers to entry for small businesses and middle market companies to the capital markets. Under Chairman Levitt, he was responsible for organizing the SEC's individual investor program, including the first investor town hall meetings, an SEC consumer affairs advisory committee, and other investor education efforts, including the original Invest Wisely brochures regarding the fundamentals of the retail brokerage relationship and mutual fund investment. Commissioner Atkins began his career as a lawyer in New York City, focusing on a wide range of corporate transactions for U.S. and foreign clients, including public and private securities offerings and mergers and acquisitions. He was resident for 2½ years in his firm's Paris office and admitted as conseil juridique in France in 1988. Commissioner Atkins holds a J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law, where he was Senior Student Writing Editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review. He received his A.B. from Wofford College and was a member of Phi Beta Kappa.

Steven E. Bochner is a Partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, working from its Palo Alto, California office. Mr. Bochner has represented numerous start-up companies, as well as leading venture capital and investment banking firms. He has served in various management positions at Wilson Sonsini, including as a member of the firm's Policy Committee and chair of its Compensation Committee, and is currently a member of the firm's Executive Management Committee. In 2005, he was appointed as a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Advisory Committee on Smaller Public Companies, where he served as chairman of the Governance and Disclosure Subcommittee. Mr. Bochner is now in his second term as co-chair of the Nasdaq Listing and Hearing Review Council. The council is responsible for making recommendations to the Nasdaq board on policy and rule changes related to issuer listing standards. He has also served on the California Department of Corporations' Securities Regulation Advisory Committee. Mr. Bochner received his J.D. from the University of California Berkeley Law School and his B.S. from San Jose State University.

Phil Clough is a Managing General Partner at ABS Capital Partners, a later-stage growth company investor with $1.5 billion under management and offices in Baltimore and San Francisco. Mr. Clough currently represents ABS Capital on the boards of American Public Education, Inc., eFashion Solutions, LLC, Liquidity Services, Inc., Payformance Corporation, Rosetta Stone, Inc., and Restaurant Technologies, Inc. He previously served on the boards of Advanced Disposal Services, Inc., Rainmaker Systems, Inc. and SITEL Corporation. Prior to joining ABS Capital in 2001, Mr. Clough was President and CEO of SITEL Corporation, a global provider of outsourced customer support services, from 1998 to 2001, and President from 1997 to 1998. From 1990 to 1997, he was an Investment Banker with Alex. Brown & Sons Incorporated, where he completed over 25 IPOs on behalf of growth companies such as Corporate Express, Bon Ton Stores, Brookstone and Ingram Micro. Mr. Clough is an active member of the Young Presidents' Organization. He served in the United States Army from 1983 to 1988, rising to the rank of Captain in 1987. Mr. Clough attended United States Military Academy at West Point. He received his masters in business administration from the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Virginia.

Chairman Christopher Cox is the 28th Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. During his tenure at the SEC, Chairman Cox has made vigorous enforcement of the securities laws the agency's top priority, bringing ground breaking cases against a variety of market abuses including hedge fund insider trading, stock options backdating, fraud aimed at senior citizens, municipal securities fraud, and securities scams on the Internet. He has assumed leadership of the international effort to more closely integrate U.S. and overseas regulation in an era of global capital markets and international securities exchanges. He has also championed transforming the SEC's system of mandated disclosure from a static, form-based approach to one that taps the power of interactive data to give investors qualitatively better information about companies, mutual funds, and investments of all kinds. In addition, as part of an overall focus on the needs of individual investors, Chairman Cox has reinvigorated the agency's initiative to provide important investor information in plain English. Chairman Cox simultaneously received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where he was an Editor of the Harvard Law Review. He received a B.A. from the University of Southern California, graduating magna cum laude after pursuing an accelerated three-year course.

R. Cromwell Coulson is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pink Sheets LLC, a provider of trading technology and financial information for OTC equity markets. In 1999, Pink Sheets introduced their Electronic Quotation System, which allowed for market makers to publish real-time firm quotes in OTC securities. In 2002, the company introduced Pink Link, an electronic order delivery and execution system for broker dealers trading in OTC securities. In March, the new OTCQX market tier was launched. Modeled after the London Stock Exchange AIM market, OTCQX is designed to clearly differentiate operating companies with reputable management and audited financials that can meet certain minimum requirements from the rest of the OTC market. Before the acquisition of Pink Sheets, Mr. Coulson was a trader specializing in distressed and value oriented investments at an OTC market maker. Mr. Coulson received a B.B.A. from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas.

Lance Lange is a senior member of Robert W. Baird's Equity Capital Markets Group origination team, responsible for the industrial and healthcare sectors. Robert W. Baird is an employee-owned, international wealth management, capital markets, private equity and asset management firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Mr. Lange also leads Baird's private placement practice, with a focus on PIPES, Registered Direct and growth equity transactions. Since 2001, Mr. Lange has acted as advisor and agent on over $1 billion of privately placed capital. Before his role in the Equity Capital Markets Group, Mr. Lange directed Baird's structured finance and utilities investment banking practice. Mr. Lange joined Baird from the Capital Markets Group of Firstar Bank, NA, where he concentrated on public and private debt offerings. Mr. Lange also serves on the Board of Directors of the Milwaukee Ballet Company. He received a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from the University of Wisconsin and a J.D. from Marquette University Law School.

Gerald J. Laporte serves as Chief of the Office of Small Business Policy in the SEC's Division of Corporation Finance, Washington, D.C. He has practiced law in Washington, D.C. since 1976, including a previous period at the SEC from 1982 to 1987. Before rejoining the SEC in late 2002, Mr. Laporte practiced with the firm of Hogan & Hartson LLP. From 1997 to 1998, Mr. Laporte served as Chairman of the Corporation, Finance and Securities Law Section of the District of Columbia Bar. He holds a J.D. degree, awarded with honors, from the George Washington University Law School, where he was Managing Editor of the law review. He also holds an M.A. degree in political science from Georgetown University, and degrees from the University of Ottawa, Canada, and Sacred Heart Seminary College, Detroit.

Marc H. Morgenstern is Managing Partner of Blue Mesa Partners, a venture capital/private equity partnership in San Francisco. Before joining Blue Mesa Partners full time, Mr. Morgenstern practiced law in the Corporate Practice Group of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP in San Francisco. Mr. Morgenstern was the founding lawyer for national retailer OfficeMax and represented public companies and private equity and venture capital funds. His practice focused on public and emerging growth companies, private equity and venture capital funds, corporate governance, buying and selling businesses, and public offerings. Mr. Morgenstern has written and lectured extensively on business, securities, private equity, and other legal issues at national forums. Mr. Morgenstern received a J.D. degree from Boston University School of Law and a B.A. degree from Yale University.

Gerard P. O'Connor is a Partner in Foley Hoag LLP, Boston, Massachusetts. Mr. O'Connor's practice focuses on corporate finance transactions, mergers and acquisitions, securities law and intellectual property matters. He represents clients in a variety of industries, including software and information technology, advanced and renewable energy, manufacturing, pharmaceutical, venture capital and professional services. Mr. O'Connor assists early stage companies in formation, securities offerings, employment and intellectual property issues. He represents buyers and sellers of public and private companies and represents technology companies in negotiating and carrying out strategic alliance and joint venture agreements. Mr. O'Connor advises public companies and their directors and officers on securities law, Sarbanes-Oxley compliance and reporting obligations. Mr. O'Connor received his J.D. degree from Northeastern University School of Law and his B.S. degree from University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Anna T. Pinedo is a Partner in Morrison & Foerster, LLP, New York, New York. Ms. Pinedo has extensive experience as a corporate lawyer in the areas of securities and derivatives. She has particular financing expertise representing companies across a range of industries, having worked with technology-based companies (Internet-related, life science and biotech), telecommunications companies, healthcare companies, financial institutions, REITs and consumer finance companies. Ms. Pinedo has a B.S.F.S. degree from Georgetown University. She received her J.D. degree from the University of Chicago Law School, where she served as a member of the University of Chicago Legal Forum.

John W. White is Director of the Division of Corporation Finance, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Washington, D.C. He joined the SEC staff in March 2006. Prior to joining the staff, Mr. White was a partner for over 25 years at Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP, where he represented public companies, their directors and their financial advisors on a wide variety of matters including public financings, public reporting obligations, corporate governance issues, restatements and other financial crises. Mr. White has played an instrumental role in the Commission's recent steps to improve the implementation of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding internal control over financial reporting. Mr. White has been a frequent speaker on the securities laws and corporate governance and has been actively involved with leading securities law conferences around the country. He is currently serving as Vice Chairman of the Securities Regulation Institute. Mr. White received his J.D. from New York University School of Law and his B.S. in accounting from the University of Virginia.

Gregory C. Yadley is a Partner in the corporate practice group in the Tampa, Florida office of Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick, LLP. His principal areas of practice are securities, mergers and acquisitions, banking, corporate and general business law. Mr. Yadley has represented business entities of all sizes, including closely-held and family businesses and large and small public companies. He regularly represents these clients in financing transactions, mergers and acquisitions, contract negotiations and disputes, strategic planning, legal compliance and general corporate matters. He also has extensive experience in securities matters, including advising clients with regard to their private and public offerings of securities (including initial public offerings) and their ongoing disclosure obligations. Mr. Yadley is an adjunct professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, a frequent lecturer and contributor to legal periodicals, Co-Editor of The Florida Bar Florida Corporate Practice Manual and Co-Director of the annual Federal Securities Institute.

http://www.sec.gov/info/smallbus/2007gbforumbios.htm