SEC Chairman Christopher Cox Appoints Andrew Donohue to Be the Commission's Next Director of the Division of Investment Management

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2006-52

Washington, D.C., April 10, 2006 - Chairman Christopher Cox announced today that leading Wall Street fund lawyer Andrew "Buddy" Donohue will join the Securities and Exchange Commission as its next Director of the Division of Investment Management.

"Buddy brings invaluable expertise and three decades of experience with mutual fund regulation to our investor protection mission," said Chairman Cox. "His knowledge will help ordinary American investors get the information they need. I know that he is committed to promoting effective mutual fund governance, sturdy compliance, and plain English information for mutual fund and ETF purchasers. He will work to get investors more accurate and more timely information through the use of the latest technology. As a leader of the Commission, Buddy will be every retail investor's champion."

"This is a great honor," Mr. Donohue said. "With increasing numbers of Americans investing in our growing capital markets, and with great revolutions in the markets underway because of new technology, this is a wonderful time to be given the opportunity to apply the lessons I've learned over the years to benefit all investors."

Mr. Donohue, 55, is Global General Counsel for Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. In that position, he oversees the firm's legal and regulatory compliance functions for over $500 billion in assets including mutual funds, fixed income funds, hedge funds, private equities, managed futures, and exchange funds. He is also Chairman of the firm's Global Risk Oversight Committee.

Mr. Donohue is well known for his extensive knowledge of mutual fund regulation and compliance issues under the Investment Company Act and the Investment Advisers Act, and he will work with others at the Commission to continue to improve the usability of disclosures by mutual funds, closed-end funds, UITs, ETFs, and other funds available to retail investors. He will also work closely with the Commission to expand the use of interactive data to make mutual fund disclosures more useful and to find and develop additional ways in which technology may improve the accessibility and utility of SEC-mandated information for investors.

Prior to his service at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, Mr. Donohue spent more than a decade as Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Director, and member of the Executive Committee for Oppenheimer Funds, one of the nation's leading retail mutual fund management companies, with managed assets of over $150 billion.

Previously, he was a corporate and securities law partner with the firm of Kraft & McManimon (now McManimon & Scotland, LLC), a multi-practice firm for private and government clients based in Newark, N.J.

Mr. Donohue's commitment to the needs of individual investors is longstanding. He has served as Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Director for First Investors Corporation, one of the oldest financial service companies in the country dedicated to the individual investor. The firm has more than $5 billion in assets in over 400,000 individual and institutional accounts nationwide.

Mr. Donohue earned his J.D. from New York University School of Law in 1975 and his B.A., cum laude, with honors in Economics from Hofstra University in 1972.

Mr. Donohue will be sworn in by Chairman Cox on May 15, 2006.

http://www.sec.gov/news/press/2006/2006-52.htm