Margaret Ryan

Margaret “Meg” Ryan became Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement in September 2025.

Judge Ryan is a senior judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. She was nominated to the court in 2006 by President George W. Bush, confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and served the entirety of her term through July 2020. She reached senior status in August 2020.

Judge Ryan has been a lecturer on military law and justice at Harvard University Law School. She was a visiting professor at Notre Dame Law School and lecturer at The George Washington University Law School.

Before her tenure as judge, she was a partner at two law firms, Wiley Rein & Fielding and Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott. She previously served as a law clerk to Supreme Court Associate Justice Clarence Thomas and to Judge J. Michael Luttig of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

Following law school, Judge Ryan was a judge advocate in the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) and earlier in her career was an active-duty USMC communications officer including deployments to the Philippines and Desert Shield/Desert Storm. She served as aide-de-camp to Marine Corps Commandant General Charles C. Krulak from 1997 to 1999.  

Judge Ryan received a B.A. cum laude in political science from Knox College and a J.D. summa cum laude from the University of Notre Dame Law School, where she graduated first in her class and was an editorial board member of the Notre Dame Law Review. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute.