Mary Schapiro

Mary Schapiro earned her law degree from George Washington University Law School. She served as Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 1994 to 1996 — the first woman to hold that position — and as President and CEO of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and its predecessor NASD. President Obama appointed her as SEC Chair in January 2009, making her the first woman to serve as permanent SEC Chair. Her tenure coincided with the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis and the implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act, which created sweeping new requirements for derivatives clearing, increased oversight of hedge funds, and established new mechanisms for resolving systemically important financial institutions. On May 6, 2010, US equity markets experienced the "Flash Crash" — a rapid and severe decline of approximately 9% followed by a partial recovery within minutes, caused by algorithmic trading dynamics. Schapiro led the regulatory investigation into the Flash Crash and implemented new single-stock circuit breakers and market-wide pause mechanisms to prevent future occurrences. She also worked to implement new market structure rules and strengthen oversight of high-frequency trading. She left the SEC in December 2012 and has since served in senior advisory roles at Bloomberg LP, the Financial Stability Oversight Council, and various private sector boards.