Office of the Chief Accountant Selects Four Professional Accounting Fellows

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2003-29

Washington, D.C., March 6, 2003 -- The Securities and Exhange Commission's Office of the Chief Accountant has selected four professional accounting fellows for two-year terms beginning in April 2003:

• Robert J. Comerford, currently a senior manager in Deloitte & Touche LLP's Global Markets Group based in New York
   
• Russell P. Hodge, a senior manager in Ernst & Young LLP's Southeast Area Professional Practice Group in Atlanta, Ga.
   
• John M. James, a director in PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP's Professional, Technical, Risk and Quality Group in Florham Park, N.J.
   
• Chad A. Kokenge, a senior manager in PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP's Professional, Technical, Risk and Quality Group in Florham Park, N.J.

The four will join the current professional accounting fellows -- D. Douglas Alkema, Gregory A. Faucette, Randolph P. Green, and Eric J. Schuppenhauer. Outgoing professional accounting fellows are Michael S. Thompson and Carina C. Markel.

At the Commission, the newly selected professional accounting fellows will work with the Chief Accountant and be involved in the study and development of rule proposals under the federal securities laws, liaison with the professional accounting and auditing standards-setting bodies, and consultation with registrants on accounting and reporting matters.

"I look forward to working with each of these four highly motivated individuals as the SEC staff tackles the many challenging issues that lie ahead," said Jackson M. Day, Acting Chief Accountant.