SEC Names Pamela A. Gibbs as Director of the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Pamela A. Gibbs has been named as the inaugural Director of the Office of Minority and Women Inclusion, which oversees diversity in the agency’s employment, management, and business activities.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act mandated that federal financial regulators each establish an office devoted to workforce diversity, the use of minority and women-owned service providers, and the assessment of the diversity policies and practices of the businesses each regulates. In July, after receiving congressional approval to fund the office, the SEC appointed Alta G. Rodriguez, Director of the SEC’s Office of Equal Employment Opportunity, as interim director.

“I am pleased to announce that Pamela Gibbs will be the first director of our Office of Minority and Women Inclusion,” said SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro. “I’m confident that given Pamela’s extensive experience, her leadership will ensure this office’s success.”

Ms. Gibbs comes to the SEC from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, where she has served since October 2009 as the Director of its Office of Diversity and Inclusion. In that role, Ms. Gibbs was the principal advisor to the CFTC Chairman on equal employment and diversity matters, and oversaw outreach and recruitment of minority and women’s groups. She also worked with the agency’s Office of General Counsel and Office of Human Resources to ensure fairness and consistency in the agency’s personnel policies and practices.

“It’s an honor to be chosen to head the SEC’s Office of Minority and Women Inclusion, and I look forward to working with my new colleagues on the important task Congress has set out for us,” Ms. Gibbs said.

Prior to the CFTC, Ms. Gibbs spent 18 years at the U.S. Department of Labor, where she started in 1991 as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division. She later was Acting Deputy Director for Program Operation in the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, and was Director of the Equal Employment Opportunity Unit in the Employment Standards Administration from April 2006 to October 2009.

Ms. Gibbs is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center. She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia and holds a master’s degree in public administration from George Mason University.