Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission
Paul S. Atkins was sworn into office as the 34th Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 21, 2025, after being nominated by President Donald J. Trump on January 20, 2025, and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 9, 2025.
Prior to returning to the SEC, Chairman Atkins was most recently chief executive of Patomak Global Partners, a company he founded in 2009. Chairman Atkins helped lead efforts to develop best practices for the digital asset sector. He served as an independent director and non-executive chairman of the board of BATS Global Markets, Inc. from 2012 to 2015.
Chairman Atkins was appointed by President George W. Bush to serve as a Commissioner of the SEC from 2002 to 2008. During his tenure, he advocated for transparency, consistency, and the use of cost-benefit analysis at the agency. Chairman Atkins also represented the SEC at meetings of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets and the U.S.-EU Transatlantic Economic Council. From 2009 to 2010, he was appointed a member of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Before serving as an SEC Commissioner, Chairman Atkins was a consultant on securities and investment management industry matters, especially regarding issues of strategy, regulatory compliance, risk management, new product development, and organizational control.
From 1990 to 1994, Chairman Atkins served on the staff of two chairmen of the SEC, Richard C. Breeden and Arthur Levitt, ultimately as chief of staff and counselor, respectively. He received the SEC’s 1992 Law and Policy Award for work regarding corporate governance matters.
Chairman Atkins began his career as a lawyer in New York, focusing on a wide range of corporate transactions for U.S. and foreign clients, including public and private securities offerings and mergers and acquisitions. He was resident for 2½ years in his firm's Paris office and admitted as conseil juridique in France.
A member of the New York and Florida bars, Chairman Atkins received his J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law in 1983 and was Senior Student Writing Editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review. He received his A.B., Phi Beta Kappa, from Wofford College in 1980.
Originally from Lillington, North Carolina, Chairman Atkins grew up in Tampa, Florida. He and his wife Sarah have three sons.
Principal, Ely & Company, Inc.
Bert Ely has specialized in deposit insurance and banking structure issues since 1981. In 1986, he became an early predictor of the S&L crisis and a taxpayer bailout of the FSLIC. In 1991, he was the first person to correctly predict the non-crisis in commercial banking; in 1992, he predicted an eventual taxpayer bailout of the Japanese banking system.
Bert continuously monitors conditions in the banking and S&L industries, monetary policy, and the growing federalization of credit risk. He has helped to draft legislation to enact the cross-guarantee concept for privatizing banking regulation and its related deposit insurance and systemic risks. He has testified on numerous occasions before congressional committees on banking issues and he often speaks on these matters to bankers and others.
Bert first established his consulting practice in 1972. Before that, he was the chief financial officer of a public company, a consultant with Touche, Ross & Company, and an auditor with Ernst & Ernst. He received his MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1968 and his Bachelor's degree in economics in 1964 from Case Western Reserve University.
Staff Attorney, National Right to Work Foundation
Aaron Solem is a staff attorney at the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, where he represents both private and public sector employees in state and federal courts, as well as before administrative agencies.
Aaron was co-counsel in Janus v. AFSCME, Council 31, 138 S. Ct. 2448 (2018), a major Supreme Court case establishing that it violates the First Amendment to force public sector employees to pay compulsory fees. Additionally, Aaron’s track record in federal court includes being co-counsel in Stewart v. NLRB, 851 F.3d 21 (D.C. Cir. 2017); Tamosiunas v. NLRB, 892 F.3d 422 (D.C. Cir. 2018); and UNAP v. NLRB, 975 F.3d 34 (1st Cir. 2020). He was also lead counsel in Sands v. NLRB, 825 F.3d 778 (D.C. Cir. 2016), where he successfully vacated an unfavorable NLRB decision.
Aaron is also experienced in representing employees before the National Labor Relations Board. Aaron won a major victory in NABET, Local 51, 371 NLRB No. 15 (2021), establishing the unlawfulness of threatening evidence preservation letters under the National Labor Relations Act. He also frequently represents and advises decertification petitioners, including the decertification petitioners in Americold Logistics, 362 NLRB 493 (2015); Pinnacle Foods Grp., 368 NLRB No. 97 (2019); and Geodis Logistics, 371 NLRB No. 102 (2022).
Aaron earned his law degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame Law School and currently resides in Bethesda, Maryland.
Mike Jayne is an attorney for the U.S. Department of Education. Previously, he worked for the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.
Author
Godfrey Hodgson was director of the Reuters' Foundation Programme at Oxford University, and before that the Observer's correspondent in the United States and foreign editor of the Independent. He is the author of The Myth of American Exceptionalism (Yale University Press, 2009).
Columnist
Charles Krauthammer wrote a syndicated column for The Washington Post which appeared in more than 400 newspapers worldwide and for which he won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize. He was a FOX News commentator, appearing nightly on FOX's evening news program, Special Report with Bret Baier.
His book Things That Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics, a #1 New York Times bestseller, has sold more than a million copies. His book The Point of It All: A Lifetime of Great Loves and Endeavors is now available for order.
Born in New York City and raised in Montreal, Krauthammer was educated at McGill University (B.A. 1970), Oxford University (Commonwealth Scholar in Politics) and Harvard (M.D. 1975). While serving as chief resident in psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital, he co-discovered a form of bipolar disease.
In 1978, he quit medical practice, came to Washington to help direct planning in psychiatric research in the Carter administration. In 1980, he served as a speechwriter to Vice President Walter Mondale. He joined The New Republic in 1981. Three years later his New Republic essays won the National Magazine Award for Essays and Criticism.
From 2001 to 2006, he served on the President's Council on Bioethics. He was president of The Krauthammer Foundation and chairman of Pro Musica Hebraica, an organization dedicated to the recovery and performance of lost classical Jewish music. He was also a member of Chess Journalists of America.
In his last column, he announced his terminal illness and reflected on his remarkable life. He passed away on June 21, 2018.
Essayist, Editor, and Publisher
Irving Kristol (born Jan. 20, 1920, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.—died Sept. 18, 2009, Arlington, Va.), American essayist, editor, and publisher, best known as an intellectual founder and leader of the neoconservative movement in the United States. His articulation and defense of conservative ideals against the dominant liberalism of the 1960s influenced generations of intellectuals and policymakers and contributed to the resurgence of the Republican Party in the late 1960s and its electoral successes in the 1980s.
Emeritus Professor of Law, George Mason University
As a professor of law and economics, Gordon Tullock brought the experience of a rich and varied professional career with him to George Mason University and the Mercatus Center. He was a member of the United States Foreign Service from 1947 until 1956, serving in China, Hong Kong, and Korea. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Thomas Jefferson Center for Political Economy at the University of Virginia and a member of the faculties of the University of South Carolina, the University of Virginia, and Rice University, as well as a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Professor Tullock was the Holbert R. Harris University Professor at George Mason University from 1983-1987 and was the Karl Eller Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of Arizona prior to joining the faculty of George Mason School of Law. He is a member of and has held offices in a variety of professional associations and has been the recipient of numerous honors over the course of his career.
Professor Tullock was the first recipient of the Lastly T. Wilkins Award, received the 1992 Frank E. Seidman Distinguished Award in Political Economy, and was presented with the 1993 Adam Smith Award. In 1996, Professor Tullock was named a member of the American Political Science Review Hall of Fame and also was honored with an Award for Outstanding Contributions in the field of law and economics by George Mason University School of Law. In January 1998, he was made a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association. From founding the Public Choice Society, he has been a member of the Board and is a past president. He is also a past president of the Western Economic Association and the Southern Economic Association. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Association of Asian Studies, the Mont Pelerin Society, and the usual collection of economic associations.
Professor Tullock received his education at Yale University (Chinese, 1949-1951), Cornell University (Chinese, 1951-1952), and at the University of Chicago Law School (JD, 1947). He was awarded an honorary doctor of laws from the University of Chicago in 1992. He also holds honorary doctorates from Basel and Universidad Francisco Marroquin.
Author
Godfrey Hodgson was director of the Reuters' Foundation Programme at Oxford University, and before that the Observer's correspondent in the United States and foreign editor of the Independent. He is the author of The Myth of American Exceptionalism (Yale University Press, 2009).
Columnist
Charles Krauthammer wrote a syndicated column for The Washington Post which appeared in more than 400 newspapers worldwide and for which he won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize. He was a FOX News commentator, appearing nightly on FOX's evening news program, Special Report with Bret Baier.
His book Things That Matter: Three Decades of Passions, Pastimes and Politics, a #1 New York Times bestseller, has sold more than a million copies. His book The Point of It All: A Lifetime of Great Loves and Endeavors is now available for order.
Born in New York City and raised in Montreal, Krauthammer was educated at McGill University (B.A. 1970), Oxford University (Commonwealth Scholar in Politics) and Harvard (M.D. 1975). While serving as chief resident in psychiatry at the Massachusetts General Hospital, he co-discovered a form of bipolar disease.
In 1978, he quit medical practice, came to Washington to help direct planning in psychiatric research in the Carter administration. In 1980, he served as a speechwriter to Vice President Walter Mondale. He joined The New Republic in 1981. Three years later his New Republic essays won the National Magazine Award for Essays and Criticism.
From 2001 to 2006, he served on the President's Council on Bioethics. He was president of The Krauthammer Foundation and chairman of Pro Musica Hebraica, an organization dedicated to the recovery and performance of lost classical Jewish music. He was also a member of Chess Journalists of America.
In his last column, he announced his terminal illness and reflected on his remarkable life. He passed away on June 21, 2018.
Essayist, Editor, and Publisher
Irving Kristol (born Jan. 20, 1920, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.—died Sept. 18, 2009, Arlington, Va.), American essayist, editor, and publisher, best known as an intellectual founder and leader of the neoconservative movement in the United States. His articulation and defense of conservative ideals against the dominant liberalism of the 1960s influenced generations of intellectuals and policymakers and contributed to the resurgence of the Republican Party in the late 1960s and its electoral successes in the 1980s.
Emeritus Professor of Law, George Mason University
As a professor of law and economics, Gordon Tullock brought the experience of a rich and varied professional career with him to George Mason University and the Mercatus Center. He was a member of the United States Foreign Service from 1947 until 1956, serving in China, Hong Kong, and Korea. He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Thomas Jefferson Center for Political Economy at the University of Virginia and a member of the faculties of the University of South Carolina, the University of Virginia, and Rice University, as well as a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Professor Tullock was the Holbert R. Harris University Professor at George Mason University from 1983-1987 and was the Karl Eller Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of Arizona prior to joining the faculty of George Mason School of Law. He is a member of and has held offices in a variety of professional associations and has been the recipient of numerous honors over the course of his career.
Professor Tullock was the first recipient of the Lastly T. Wilkins Award, received the 1992 Frank E. Seidman Distinguished Award in Political Economy, and was presented with the 1993 Adam Smith Award. In 1996, Professor Tullock was named a member of the American Political Science Review Hall of Fame and also was honored with an Award for Outstanding Contributions in the field of law and economics by George Mason University School of Law. In January 1998, he was made a Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association. From founding the Public Choice Society, he has been a member of the Board and is a past president. He is also a past president of the Western Economic Association and the Southern Economic Association. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Association of Asian Studies, the Mont Pelerin Society, and the usual collection of economic associations.
Professor Tullock received his education at Yale University (Chinese, 1949-1951), Cornell University (Chinese, 1951-1952), and at the University of Chicago Law School (JD, 1947). He was awarded an honorary doctor of laws from the University of Chicago in 1992. He also holds honorary doctorates from Basel and Universidad Francisco Marroquin.
Professor of Law, UC Irvine School of Law
Mehrsa Baradaran is a Professor of Law at UC Irvine School of Law.
Previously, she was the Robert Cotten Alston Chair in Corporate Law and Associate Dean for strategic initiatives with a focus on diversity and inclusion efforts and national and international faculty scholarship recognition at the University of Georgia School of Law.
Baradaran writes about banking law, financial inclusion, inequality, and the racial wealth gap. Her scholarship includes the books How the Other Half Banks and The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap, both published by the Harvard University Press. The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap was awarded the Best Book of the Year by the Urban Affairs Association, the PROSE Award Honorable Mention in the Business, Finance & Management category. Baradaran was also selected as a finalist at the 2018 Georgia Author of the Year Awards for the book in the category of history/biography.
Baradaran has also published articles including "Jim Crow Credit" in the Irvine Law Review, "Regulation by Hypothetical" in the Vanderbilt Law Review, "It's Time for Postal Banking" in the Harvard Law Review Forum, "Banking and the Social Contract" in the Notre Dame Law Review, "How the Poor Got Cut Out of Banking" in the Emory Law Journal, "Reconsidering the Separation of Banking and Commerce" in the George Washington Law Review and "The ILC and the Reconstruction of U.S. Banking" in the SMU Law Review. Of note, her article "The New Deal with Black America" was selected for presentation at the 2017 Stanford/Harvard/Yale Junior Faculty Forum.
Baradaran and her books have received significant national and international media coverage and have been featured in the New York Times, the Atlantic, Slate, American Banker, the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times; on National Public Radio’s “Marketplace,” C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal” and Public Broadcasting Service’s “NewsHour;” and as part of TEDxUGA. She has advised U.S. Senators and Congressmen on policy, testified before the U.S. Congress, and spoken at national and international forums like the U.S. Treasury and the World Bank.
She earned her bachelor's degree cum laude from Brigham Young University and her law degree cum laude from NYU, where she served as a member of the New York University Law Review.
Executive Director, Government Affairs, Goldman Sachs
Diego Zuluaga serves as Executive Director, Government Affairs at Goldman Sachs.
Previously Zuluaga served as a Principal at Fingleton. Prior to joining Fingleton, Zuluaga was an associate director of financial regulation studies at the Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, where he covered financial technology and consumer credit. Before joining Cato, Zuluaga was Head of Financial Services and Tech Policy at the Institute of Economic Affairs in London. While at the IEA, he wrote on international capital mobility, multi-sided platform regulation, and price controls on consumer credit, among other subjects.
Zuluaga is the author of “Should Cryptocurrencies Be Regulated like Securities?” and “The Community Reinvestment Act in the Age of Fintech and Bank Competition.” He has previously testified on the impact of restrictions on short-term lending before the House Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Financial Institutions. Zuluaga's work has featured in print and broadcast media, such as Politico, the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, American Banker, the London Times, and the Daily Telegraph. Zuluaga is a prolific public speaker as well as a former lecturer in economics at the University of Buckingham.
Originally from Bilbao in northern Spain, Zuluaga holds a BA in economics and history from McGill University, and an MSc in financial economics from the University of Oxford.
Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice
T. Elliot Gaiser is the Office of Legal Counsel’s 27th Assistant Attorney General. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on April 29, 2025, confirmed by the United States Senate on July 30, 2025, and sworn in as AAG by Attorney General Pam Bondi on August 4, 2025.
Prior to joining the Office of Legal Counsel, Mr. Gaiser served as the 11th Solicitor General of Ohio. In that role, he represented his home state and its agencies before the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the Supreme Court of Ohio, and other state and federal courts. He also advised Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on significant legal and constitutional matters important to the people of Ohio.
Mr. Gaiser clerked for Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. of the Supreme Court of the United States, Judge Neomi Rao of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and Judge Edith H. Jones of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. In the private sector, Mr. Gaiser worked at the law firms Jones Day, Boyden Gray, and Gibson Dunn. He graduated from the University of Chicago Law School and Hillsdale College. He is also a husband and father.
Acting Assistant Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, Office of Professional Responsibility, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Brian M. Fish is currently the Senior Advisor to the General Counsel at the Department of Homeland Security where he works on immigration and law enforcement issues. Previously, he was a trial attorney with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, where he represented the Department of Homeland Security in removal hearings before the U.S. Immigration Court. Additionally, he was a Special Assistant United States Attorney and a Baltimore City homicide prosecutor. He is a member of the Federalist Society's Criminal Law & Procedure Practice Group Executive Committee and the President of its Baltimore Lawyers Chapter. He earned his B.A. from LaSalle University in 1992 and his J.D. from Loyola University New Orleans School of Law in 1998.
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