About the Subject
“Going Public: My Adventures Inside the SEC and How to Prevent the Next Devastating Crisis” chronicles former SEC official Norm Champ’s experiences at the agency and how they shed light on the regulatory process and government policy-making. When Champ joined the SEC in 2009, the agency was under immense pressure to reign in Wall Street. There was little doubt the SEC had to fix rules that permitted bad behavior and start to enforce existing laws. Champ was eager to be a part of this positive change. He soon realized, however, that not everyone shared his enthusiasm for ushering in reform. Going Public offers a behind-the-scenes look at the SEC’s arcane culture and Champ’s efforts to lead reforms to stabilize an American financial system that was on the brink of disaster.
About the Speaker
Norm Champ is a partner in the Investment Funds Group of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Previously, Champ was the Director of the Division of Investment Management at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). While at the SEC, Champ played a key role in the SEC’s completion of landmark reforms in 2014 to strengthen the $3 trillion money market fund industry, and he led important structural and policy changes. Champ lectures on investment management law at Harvard Law School, where he earned his law degree, and frequently speaks on securities law topics at organizations such as Princeton University’s Bendheim Center for Finance, the Practicing Law Institute and the International Bar Association, among many others.
More on the book and videos below
Going Public: My Adventures Inside the SEC and How to Prevent the Next Devastating Crisis
In 2008, Americans were reeling from the devastating financial crisis that caused the Great Recession. There were searing questions about how the crisis was allowed to happen and calls for immediate reform from Capital Hill, the news media, and the general public. Multiple scandals sent real fear through the investing community and brought unprecedented heat on the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). There was little doubt that the SEC had to fix rules that permitted bad behavior, shake off decades of complacency and enforce existing laws.
Wall Street lawyer Norm Champ spent nearly 20 years dealing with the SEC on behalf of his clients and as an industry representative working to educate the agency about hedge funds. Believing he could help reform the deeply-flawed agency, Champ left his career in the private sector and joined the SEC. As Director of the Division of Investment Management, he became a key player in stabilizing trillions of dollars of investor capital while reenergizing the SEC’s culture and management.
In Going Public, Champ presents a rare, insider’s look at how the SEC operates and explains exactly how the agency impacts the overall economic health of the country. He examines the inner workings of hedge funds, economic policy and politics, investing, and inefficient and frustrating federal agencies. Engrossing and important, this book offers critical recommendations for policy changes that will create healthy, free-functioning markets and help Americans better prepare for the inevitable next crisis.
About the Museum
The Museum of American Finance is the nation’s only independent museum dedicated to preserving, exhibiting and teaching about American finance and financial history. Housed in an historic bank building on Wall Street, the Museum’s magnificent grand mezzanine banking hall provides an ideal setting for permanent exhibits on the financial markets, money, banking, entrepreneurship and Alexander Hamilton.
The Museum is an independent, non-profit 501(c)(3) Smithsonian affiliate creating non-ideological presentations and programs for purposes of education and general public awareness. Financial education is at the core of the Museum’s mission, seeking to promote lifelong learning and inquiry.
As a chronicler of American financial achievement and development, the Museum seeks to play a special role as a guardian of America’s collective financial memory, as well as a presenter and interpreter of current financial issues, thereby connecting the past with the present while serving as a guide for the future.
