Scott W. Bauguess, Deputy Director of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis, to Leave the Agency After a Decade of Service

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Scott W. Bauguess, Deputy Director of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA) and Deputy Chief Economist, will leave the agency in January after more than 11 years of service. Dr. Bauguess joined the division in 2007 as a financial economist, assumed leadership of DERA's Office of Corporate Finance in 2011, and was appointed Deputy Director in 2013. In 2017, Dr. Bauguess served as the agency's Acting Director of DERA and its Acting Chief Economist.

During his tenure, Dr. Bauguess played a significant role in the Commission's regulatory impact analyses and market risk assessment activities. He led all of the economic analyses of rules implementing provisions of the JOBS Act and critical components of the Dodd-Frank Act, participated in the development of disclosure technologies related to registrant reporting, and oversaw the introduction of new and innovative data analytical methods and programs employing artificial intelligence technology to assist SEC staff in their supervisory and investigative activities.

"For more than a decade, Scott has played a leading role in designing and producing the economic analysis that allows us to better understand the effects of our work at the Commission," said Chairman Jay Clayton. "I thank Scott for his years of dedicated service to our investors and markets."

"Scott has long been a champion of using of data-driven methods to support our enforcement program," said Stephanie Avakian, Co-Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement. "He has tremendous insight on how to leverage advanced analytics to identify potential securities law violations and we will miss collaborating with him."

Pete Driscoll, Director of the Office and Compliance Inspections and Examinations, added, “His dedication, vision, and willingness to promote collaboration between DERA and OCIE staff were critical to the advancement of quantitative methods to assess risks and analyze data throughout the agency, particularly in OCIE.”

Dr. Bauguess said, "I leave with fond memories and a great sense of accomplishment from my 11 years serving America's investors. My time working with staff in DERA and across the agency as we applied analytical methods to complicated economic and market issues to protect and strengthen our markets will stand out as particularly rewarding. I will miss my colleagues and the mission."

His service to the agency spanned a wide variety of economic, analytical, and technology activities, including:

• Directed the economic analyses of JOBS Act and related rules covering the elimination of the prohibition against general solicitation in Rule 506 offerings, Regulation Crowdfunding, amendments to Regulation D and Regulation A, and disqualification of bad actors in Rule 506 offerings.
• Directed the economic analyses of Dodd Frank Act rules covering security-based swap (SBS) communications, reporting, data repositories, conduct standards and dissemination, and cross-border application of SBS rules, and rules covering credit risk retention, pay ratio, and credit rating reference removal. 
• Advised in the development and responsible for the implementation of the SEC's "Current Guidance on Economic Analysis in SEC Rulemaking."
• SEC representative to the Financial Stability Board's Standing Committee on Assessing Vulnerabilities (SCAV) and the Analytical Group on Vulnerabilities (AGV).
• Oversaw the establishment of two new offices in DERA: the Office of Research and Data Services and the Office of Risk Assessment.
• Directed the economic analyses on rulemakings to make financial disclosures and market transactions machine readable through adoption and use of XML-based financial reporting languages such as XBRL.
• Directed the efforts that led to the adoption and use of Legal Entity Identifiers (LEIs) in regulatory filings by swaps dealers, investment advisers, broker-dealers, and investment companies.
• Developed programs that leverage machine learning and natural language processing of narrative disclosures in SEC filings to develop novel analytical insights in support of market supervision activities.
• Key contributor to cross-agency initiatives related to the oversight of the Tips, Complaints, and Referrals (TCR) system, identification of emerging market risks, and enhancement of the SEC’s data and computing environments. 

Prior to joining the SEC, Dr. Bauguess served on the finance faculty of Texas Tech University in the Rawls College of Business. He earned his Ph.D. from Arizona State University, and also holds a BS and MS in Electrical Engineering, spending six years working in the technology industry before beginning his doctoral studies.