Mary L. Schapiro

MARY L. SCHAPIRO - 2008

ASECA is proud to announce that Mary L. Schapiro, former SEC Commissioner and Acting SEC Chairman and former Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has been selected as the sixteenth recipient of the William O. Douglas Award.  The Douglas Award, instituted by ASECA in 1992, is conferred annually on an SEC alumnus who has contributed to the development of the federal securities laws or served the financial and SEC community with distinction. 

Ms. Schapiro currently serves as CEO, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the largest non-governmental regulator for all securities firms doing business with the U.S. public.  FINRA was created in 2007 through the consolidation of NASD and NYSE Member Regulation.  Ms. Schapiro also serves as Chairman of the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, the largest foundation in the U.S. dedicated to investor education. 

Ms. Schapiro served for six years as SEC Commissioner.  She was appointed in 1988 by President Reagan, reappointed by President Bush in 1989, and named Acting Chairman by President Clinton in 1993.  Following her service on the SEC, she was appointed Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in 1994 by President Clinton.  As CFTC Chairman, she participated in the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets with the Secretary of the Treasury and the Chairmen of the Federal Reserve Board and the SEC.

In 1996, Ms. Schapiro became President of NASD Regulation and was named Vice Chairman in 2002.  In 2006, she was named NASD’s Chairman and CEO.  The following year, she led the organization’s consolidation with NYSE Member Regulation to form FINRA.  Ms. Schapiro is an active member of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and was Chairman of the IOSCO SRO Consultative Committee from 2002 until 2006. 

A 1977 graduate of Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, PA, Ms. Schapiro earned a Juris Doctor degree with honors from George Washington University in 1980.  She is a member of the Board of Trustees of Franklin and Marshall College.  She was named the Financial Women’s Association Public Sector Woman of the Year in 2000.  She serves on the RAND Corporation’s LRN-RAND Center of Corporate Ethics, Law and Governance Advisory Board.