Senate Confirms 2 New SEC Commissioners

Uyeda, a securities counsel on the minority staff of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, has over 25 years of experience in corporate and securities law, including 18 years of public service working in federal and state government, according to Biden’s announcement. He has also served as assistant director and senior special counsel in the SEC’s Division of Investment Management.

Uyeda joined the SEC in 2006 and has worked in various capacities, including as senior advisor to former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton and former acting chairman Michael Piwowar, and as counsel to former SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler and the commissioners said in a statement that they congratulate Lizárraga and Uyeda on their successful Senate confirmations. “On behalf of the entire agency, we would like to welcome them both back” to the SEC.

The Investment Company Institute “congratulates Jaime Lizárraga and Mark Uyeda on their confirmation by the Senate to the SEC. Their insights will greatly benefit the Commission as it tackles a range of complex issues facing long-term individual investors,” said Eric Pan, ICI’s president and CEO in a statement.

Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets, added in another statement that “the SEC has an appropriately ambitious agenda that seeks to level the playing field between Main Street investors and Wall Street firms. From SPACs and payment for order flow to the predatory gamification and the harmful expansion of dark private markets, the SEC’s to-do list is long and critically important.”