Chair Gensler Announces Addition of Barbara Roper to Senior Staff

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the appointment of Barbara Roper as Senior Advisor to the Chair. Ms. Roper's focus will be on issues relating to retail investor protection, including matters relating to policy, broker-dealer oversight, investment adviser oversight, and examinations. She is currently the Director of Investor Protection for the Consumer Federation of America (CFA).

"Barb is a champion for investors and will provide invaluable counsel on behalf of the American public," Chair Gary Gensler said. "I've had the pleasure of working closely with her on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the critical market reforms of the Dodd-Frank Act, and I’m thrilled to collaborate with her again at the SEC."

"I'm excited to join the SEC and Chair Gensler's leadership team," Ms. Roper said. "I've dedicated my career to ensuring that our capital markets work for the average investor. With investor protection at the core of the SEC's mission, I’m looking forward to bringing that same focus on the needs of individual investors to my work for the SEC."

Ms. Roper has worked at the CFA for 35 years and has been a leading consumer spokesperson on investor protection issues, particularly the standards that apply to investment professionals investors rely on for advice and recommendations. She has conducted studies of the financial planning industry, state oversight of investment advisers, and state and federal financial planning regulation. She has also conducted studies on the need for audit reform in the wake of the Enron scandal, the need for mutual fund reform in the wake of trading and sales abuse scandals, the information preferences of mutual fund shareholders, the potential of the Internet to improve disclosure, and securities law weaknesses as a cause of the financial crisis. She has served on numerous advisory committees at the SEC, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and other entities. She is a graduate of Princeton University with a degree in art history.