WASHINGTON — William Beatty, Washington State's director of securities, has become president of the North American Securities Administrators Association.
He began his new post on Tuesday and is serving a one-year term, NASAA said in a release that also announced the group's new board of directors.
NASAA's president and directors are elected from the ranks of the membership annually, according to the group's website.
Beatty said that he intends to reinforce NASAA's current focus on protecting senior investors, especially those with diminished capacity and limited access to technology. Currently, about a third of NASAA's members are working on issues related to senior investors. Noting this niche in the market, NASAA announced the formation of a board-member senior committee in August. It appointed a new advisory council to work with the committee on senior issues on Tuesday.
The new president also said the association will continue working with the SEC on issues regarding Regulation A offerings, small public offerings of securities that are exempt from registration. "No one can get it alone," said Beatty. "We may have our differences, at times, but the state-federal-[self-regulatory organization] partnership is critical to effective investor protection." The association will cooperate with the SEC to launch an electronic state filing of Form D.
In addition, there will be a further collaborative work between NASSA and foreign securities regulators in Canada and Mexico, noted Beatty. "A number of the issues we are dealing with know no borders," he said.
Beatty has 28 years of experience working in the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions, including five years as the director of securities. He served as NASAA'S president-elect for the past year and worked as chair of the group's Corporation Finance Section before that. He graduated from University of Puget Sound and the Seattle University School of Law,
The new board of directors include: Judith Shaw of Maine, president-elect; Andrea Seidt of Ohio, past-president; Melanie Lubin, Maryland; Joseph Borg, Alabama; Kathryn Daniels, Ontario, Gerald Rome, Colorado; Michael Rothman, Minnesota; and Daphne Smith, Tennessee.
