Title: Assistant General Counsel
Firm: Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board
Age: 34
Saliha Olgun was a key drafter of amendments that extended the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board’s pay-to-play rule (Rule G-37) to municipal advisors in 2016 and was a key contributor to the MSRB’s recent publication of implementation guidance for mark-up disclosure.
She joined the MSRB in 2012 after she and her husband shelved their plans to move to his native Turkey with their two young children. They now have a third child. In preparation for the move overseas, Saliha quit her job as an associate at Sullivan & Cromwell, where she worked from 2010-2012, after her 2010 graduation from New York Law School. She earned her undergraduate degree in government and international politics from George Mason University in 2004.
Saliha said she sought a position working at the MSRB because it involved training and education. “It really seemed like the perfect blend for me,’’ she said. “This was a way for me to get into the nonprofit field, if you will, because the MSRB at the end of the day is a nonprofit organization. It was a way for me to combine education and training skills I had with the legal skills I had developed during law school and at Sullivan & Cromwell.’’
Before law school, Saliha worked two years for Common Cents New York, a Manhattan-based nonprofit where she trained adult volunteers in the Penny Harvest Program that promotes social development among school children by raising money for community projects. “It was a wonderful experience,’’ she said. “You can literally see a child change from the beginning of the school year to the end.’’
Saliha speaks Uzbek, Farsi and Turkish. Her parents are Uzbeks from Afghanistan who were living in Saudi Arabia when Saliha was born. Her family immigrated to the United States when she was about a year old. Saliha and her husband met each other through their respective grandparents.
“Saliha has made remarkable contributions to the municipal securities market for an individual in the early stages of a career. She’s a key member of a team of professionals carrying out the directions of the MSRB Board for the development of regulatory policy for the municipal securities market.’’ Michael Post, general counsel, MSRB
