SEC Names Director of Investor Education

The Securities and Exchange Commission has hired Kristin J. Kaepplein as its new director of the Office of Investor Education and Advocacy, effective Aug. 6. Kaepplein comes to the SEC from Goldman Sachs, where she was vice president for global compliance operations. Before that, she was a management consultat at PricewaterhouseCoopers and TIAA-CREF.

In conjunction, the SEC is forming two new subdivisions in the office: the Office of Policy and Investor Outreach and the Office of Investor Education. The policy office will assess the views and needs of retail investors and ensure that SEC regulations reflect those ideas. The education office will be devoted to improving financial literacy.

The two new offices join the existing Office of Investor Assistance and Office of the Freedom of Information Act.

“Expanding the responsibilities of the Office of Investor Education and Advocacy will help the Commission stay firmly focused on its work to put individual investors first,” said SEC Chairman Christopher Cox.