FINRA Announces New Public Board Member

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the largest independent regulator for all U.S. securities firms, has named a new public governor – Charles Plosser, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia – to its board of governors.

Plosser most recently served as president and chief executive officer of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank from 2006 to his retirement in 2015. Earlier in his career, he was the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics and Public Policy and director of the Bradley Policy Research Center at the William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration at the University of Rochester, where he also served as dean from 1993 to 2003. Plosser is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In addition, he has been a visiting scholar at the Bank of England and was the co-editor of the Journal of Monetary Economics for 20 years.

Over the years, Plosser has served as a consultant to numerous corporations on topics such as strategic planning and forecasting, portfolio and pension fund management, capital budgeting, and financial analysis. He was a member of the New York State Board of Economic Advisors and served on the board of directors of ViaHealth, Inc. and RGS Energy Group Inc. He also served on the advisory boards of the New Enterprise Forum and the University Technology Seed Fund LLC. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University in 1970 and master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Chicago, in 1972 and 1976, respectively.

“On behalf of the board, I would like to extend a warm welcome to Charles. His valuable expertise and depth of experience will help guide FINRA forward in its mission to ensure the integrity of our markets and protect the investing public,” said Richard Ketchum, FINRA’s chairman and chief executive officer.

FINRA is overseen by a 24-person board of governors, with 13 seats held by public governors and 10 by industry governors. FINRA’s chief executive officer has the remaining seat. FINRA governors are appointed or elected to three-year terms and may not serve more than two consecutive terms.

FINRA is the largest independent regulator for all securities firms doing business in the United States. It is involved in nearly every aspect of the securities business – from registering and educating all industry participants to examining securities firms, writing rules, enforcing those rules and the federal securities laws, and informing and educating the investing public. In addition, FINRA provides surveillance and other regulatory services for equities and options markets, as well as trade reporting and other industry utilities. It also administers the largest dispute resolution forum for investors and firms.