CFP Board Announces Enforcement Task Force Members
The task force, which will review and update the organization’s enforcement practices, includes shareholder advocate Mercer Bullard.
The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards announced Monday the members of its Independent Task Force on Enforcement, which is tasked with reviewing and updating the organization’s enforcement practices.
The task force, led by former Texas state regulator and CFP Board of Directors public member Denise Voigt Crawford, was formed in late July by the board of directors.
The CFP Board announced on July 31 that the new task force will also be looking at “some important issues” raised by the Wall Street Journal analysis released on July 30 concerning enforcement of CFP certification and the search function of the organization’s consumer-facing website, LetsMakeaPlan.org.
Susan John, chair of CFP Board’s board of directors, said on an Aug. 1 call that throughout 2019, the CFP Board has been reviewing its enforcement procedures to be ready when its new Code and Standards go into effect on Oct. 1.
The task force’s recommendations and report will be made public after the board’s November meeting.
The task force’s members were selected by Crawford and will be working independently of staff and the board of directors, the CFP Board said.
“These individuals have the experience, integrity and forward-thinking approach that will serve the Task Force and CFP Board well,” Crawford said in a statement. “I look forward to all of us rolling up our sleeves and working together to identify ways we can improve the organization’s enforcement program for the benefit of the public.”
In addition to Crawford, members of the task force include:
- Mercer Bullard, the Butler Snow Lecturer and Professor of Law at the University of Mississippi School of Law. Bullard, who teaches courses on securities, banking and corporations and serves as the director of the Business Law Institute, is also the president and founder of Fund Democracy, a shareholder advocacy group. Bullard previously clerked at the U.S. Court of Appeals, was in private practice at WilmerHale and was the assistant chief counsel for the Division of Investment Management at the Securities and Exchange Commission.
- Michael Huggs, director of the Mississippi Secretary of State Securities Division. Huggs also participated in the Mississippi Secretary of State’s investor education programs as a speaker for the JumpStart Coalition “Money Matters” seminars, which promoted financial literacy to high school students. He is also chairman of the North American Securities Administrators Association’s Investment Adviser Operations Project Group.
- Richard Salmen, CFP and former chair of the CFP Board’s board of directors. He was also the president of the Financial Planning Association in 2009, and is president of the Family Investment Center outside of Kansas City, Missouri.
- Nancy Smith, executive vice president, corporate secretary at AARP. Prior to joining AARP, Smith worked at an online brokerage, FOLIOfn, and served as New Mexico’s director of securities; she also headed the Office of Investor Education and Assistance at the SEC, and served on the staff of the House of Representatives’ Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance.
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