Bush to Nominate Aguilar, Walter to Securities and Exchange Commission

President Bush intends to nominate two Democrats - attorney Luis A. Aguilar and securities regulator Elisse B. Walter - to join the three sitting Republicans as commissioners of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The two, both former SEC staff attorneys, would have to be confirmed by the Senate after being formerly nominated by the president. But their confirmation should not be a problem because they were recommended for the SEC posts by key Senate Democrats.

Aguilar, 54, a partner at McKenna, Long & Aldridge LLP in Atlanta whose practice includes securities law and corporate finance as well as investment companies and advisers, would replace Roel Campos,and serve the remainder of a five-year term that expires June 5, 2010. Campos left the SEC in last year to head up the Washington, D.C., office of law firm Cooley Godward Kronish LLP.

Walter, 57, senior executive vice president for regulatory policy and programs at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, would replace Annette Nazareth and fill the remainder of a five-year term that would expire June 5, 2012. Nazareth left the SEC earlier this year, saying she wanted to return to the private sector.

Before joining the McKenna firm, Aguilar was a partner at Alston & Bird LLP. Earlier in his career, he was general counsel, executive vice president, and corporate secretary of INVESCO, one of the largest independent institutional investment companies, with more than $380 billion in assets under management in the U.S. and other countries. He was a member of the board of directors and management committee and had responsibility for all legal and compliance matters pertaining to INVESCO Institutional. He also helped establish INVESCO offices in Argentina and Puerto Rico.

Aguilar received his law degree from the University of Georgia Law School in 1979, and a master of laws degree in taxation from Emory University School of Law in 1985.

In her post at FINRA, Walter coordinates policy issues and oversees many departments. In recent years, she organized the efforts of FINRA's predecessor organization, NASD, to improve regulation of mutual fund sales.

Before joining NASD, Walter was general counsel of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. She served on the SEC's staff from 1977 to 1994 in the division of corporation finance and its office of general counsel. She was deputy director of the division of corporation finance when she left to join the CFTC in 1994.

Walter received her bachelor's degree cum laude from Yale University and her law degree cum laude from Harvard Law School.

 

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