Daniel L. Goelzer 

DANIEL L. GOELZER - 2012

ASECA is proud to announce that Daniel L. Goelzer, former SEC General Counsel and founding member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB), has been selected as the twentieth recipient of the William O. Douglas Award.  The Douglas Award, instituted by ASECA in 1992, is conferred annually on an SEC alumnus or alumna who has contributed to the development of the federal securities laws or served the financial and SEC community with distinction.  

Mr. Goelzer is a Board Member of the PCAOB, created by Congress to oversee the auditors of U.S. public companies.  The SEC appointed him as a founding member of the Board in 2002 and reappointed him to a second term in 2007.  He was the Board’s Acting Chairman from August 2009 to January 2011.   

From 1983 to 1990, Mr. Goelzer was the Commission’s General Counsel, serving under Chairmen John Shad, David Ruder, and Richard Breeden.  Before serving as General Counsel, he was Executive Assistant (Chief of Staff) to Chairman Harold Williams and Chairman Shad.  From 1974 to 1977, while in the General Counsel’s Office, he had a major role in the Commission’s efforts to enact the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.  He received the SEC Distinguished Service Award in 1983 and the Presidential Rank Award in 1989.

During the years that Mr. Goelzer served as General Counsel, the securities markets experienced a surge in hostile corporate takeovers and insider trading.  He was deeply involved in the Commission’s response to these developments.  The scope of the misappropriation theory of insider trading, the definition of a tender offer and its application to unconventional bids, and the relationship between state and federal takeover law were major legal and policy issues that the Commission addressed during this period.  He also argued for the Commission before the Supreme Court in the litigation that established that a securities transaction that constituted the sale of an entire business was within the scope of the federal securities laws. 

From 1990 until joining the PCAOB, he was a partner in the law firm of Baker & McKenzie and co-head of the firm’s banking practice group.  He specialized in representations before the Commission and in advising on SEC regulation and global custody banking.

Mr. Goelzer received a B.B.A. in accounting in 1969 from the University of Wisconsin, a J.D. in 1973 from the University of Wisconsin School of Law, and an L.L.M. in 1979 from George Washington University.  Following law school, he clerked for the Honorable Thomas E. Fairchild, United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Mr. Goelzer is a member of the bars of the District of Columbia and Wisconsin, and is a Certified Public Accountant.  The University of Wisconsin’s School of Business named him its 2005 Distinguished Accounting Alumnus.  He has served as an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law School and as a trustee of the SEC Historical Society.