The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Robert J. Keyes, a senior officer in the New York Regional Office, will retire at the end of this month following 22 years of federal service, including the past 18 at the SEC.

Mr. Keyes has been serving as the associate regional director and chief of regional office operations in the New York office since 2010, when he was promoted to the newly created position to help improve the efficiency of the office.  He has advised the regional director and other senior officers on a broad range of operational management issues including budgeting, collections and distributions, and the handling of tips, complaints, and referrals.  Mr. Keyes has particularly helped increase the New York office’s effectiveness in managing its heavy enforcement and examination caseload while establishing a deeper collaboration between its enforcement and exam efforts.

“Rob’s pioneering work has significantly improved the way we manage our office, and his efforts have substantially influenced how other regional offices operate as well,” said Andrew M. Calamari, director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office.  “Rob has helped transform the way that we do our work, and he will be sorely missed.”

Mr. Keyes also has supervised the assistant regional directors for the New York office’s enforcement accountants and enforcement investigators as well as an assistant regional director charged with oversight of regional market risks.  He has fostered substantial outreach to fellow law enforcement at the federal, state, and local levels as well as other regulators and the self-regulatory organizations.  Mr. Keyes also supervises the office’s administrative, information technology, and records management functions.  He has served as a mentor to professionals throughout the SEC, and has been unwaveringly supportive of diversity events in the New York office.

“It has been a privilege to serve the American public while working with the talented SEC staff in New York, Washington D.C., and regional offices around the country,” said Mr. Keyes.  “As I embark on a new and exciting phase of my life, I know I will recall with admiration and pride the people at this agency and their dedication to the SEC’s important mission.”

Mr. Keyes arrived at the SEC in 1996 and worked in the agency’s Washington D.C. headquarters for his first six years with the agency, primarily in the Division of Enforcement but also for a period in the Office of International Affairs.  He moved to the New York office in 2002 and became a branch chief in 2004 and an assistant regional director in 2005.  Mr. Keyes worked on and supervised a number of enforcement cases, including matters involving insider trading, Ponzi schemes, and financial reporting fraud.  His leadership on one particular fraud case helped lead to the return to investors of approximately $200 million that wrongdoers had concealed in a foreign bank.

The other federal service performed by Mr. Keyes occurred during a four-year period when he served as a deputy clerk at the federal courts in Washington D.C. before and while attending law school.

Before joining the SEC staff, Mr. Keyes was a partner in the law firm of Comey Boyd & Luskin in Washington.  Earlier in his career, Mr. Keyes was an associate at the law firm of Pettit & Martin in San Francisco.  He received his B.A. degree from St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore in 1974, his M.Div. from the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto in 1977, and his J.D. degree cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center in 1986.