Washington, D.C., March 31, 2009 — The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that Erik R. Sirri, Director of the SEC's Division of Trading and Markets, plans to leave the agency at the end of April and return to academia.
Since coming to the SEC in September 2006, Mr. Sirri has overseen the Commission's programs related to securities exchanges, brokers, dealers, clearing agencies, transfer agents, and credit rating agencies. He also worked closely with the financial agencies of the President's Working Group on Financial Markets both on policy issues and in coordinating responses to the recent market crisis.
"The SEC has benefited greatly from Erik's leadership skills, deep understanding of the financial markets, and his ability to apply economic principles to advance investor protection and improve the capital markets," said SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro. "During recent financial troubles, Erik was a calm voice who provided thoughtful advice to the Commission. The nation's investors and capital markets have benefited from his wisdom and good judgment. While I respect Erik's decision to reenter private life and rejoin his family in Massachusetts, I am grateful for his gift of public service."
Mr. Sirri said, "I am honored to have worked with the staff of the Division of Trading and Markets. I would particularly like to thank Chairman Schapiro and the other Commissioners for the opportunity to serve them as Director of Trading and Markets. It is an experience that I will never forget, and for which I will always be grateful."
As Director, Mr. Sirri led numerous regulatory and policy initiatives, including those related to the Commission's new authority over credit ratings agencies and the recent establishment of oversight of counterparties credit default swaps. Mr. Sirri also oversaw implementation of disclosure rules for municipal securities and the Commission's broker financials responsibility rules for brokers, as well as rules related to share delivery requirements under Regulation SHO.
Before joining the SEC, Mr. Sirri was a finance professor at Harvard Business School and Babson College. He had served as Chief Economist of the SEC from 1996 to 1999. He has a B.S. in Astronomy from California Institute of Technology, an M.B.A. from University of California, Irvine, and a Ph.D. in Finance from University of California, Los Angeles.