Former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt to Speak at Williams College

Media contact: Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., October 7, 2016—Former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Arthur Levitt will be in conversation at Williams College on Wednesday, Oct. 19, with William Brough Professor of Economics Gerard Caprio. Their conversation, “Regulating Wall Street: Priorities for the Next Administration,” will begin at 8 p.m. in Brooks-Rogers Recital Hall. This event is free and open to the public.

Levitt ‘52 served as the 25th chairman of the SEC. First appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993, Chairman Levitt was re-appointed to a second five-year term in May 1998. He has the unique distinction of being the longest serving chairman in the commission’s history.

During his career as head of the SEC, Levitt’s top priority was investor protection. Throughout his tenure at the SEC, Levitt worked to educate, empower, and protect America’s investors. Newsweek magazine says, “Chairman Levitt fought to effectively police the Internet’s wild investing scams, and bolster the flow of honest and reliable information to investors.”

In recent years, Levitt has conducted more than 40 investor town meetings across the country to listen to investor concerns and offer tips on safe and wise participation in the securities markets.

Additionally, Levitt has worked to improve the quality of the financial reporting process, maintain the independence of auditors, and save investors billions of dollars by reducing spreads in the NASDAQ market. He also promoted the requirement that important information be released to all investors simultaneously, fought Internet fraud, and cleaned up the municipal bond market.

Before joining the SEC, Levitt owned Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill. From 1989 to 1993, he served as the chairman of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, and from 1978 to 1989 he was the chairman of the American Stock Exchange. He is presently senior advisor to The Carlyle Group, a special advisor to AIG, on the board of Bloomberg LLP, and a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences. He hosts the biweekly radio show, “A Closer Look with Arthur Levitt.” He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Williams College in 1952 before serving for two years in the Air Force.

Levitt’s bestselling book, Take on the Street: What Wall Street and Corporate America Don’t Want You to Know/What You Can Do to Fight Back was published by Pantheon Books in 2002.

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For building locations on the Williams campus, please consult the map outside the driveway entrance to the Security Office located in Hopkins Hall on Main Street (Rte. 2), next to the Thompson Memorial Chapel, or call the Office of Communications (413) 597-4277. The map can also be found on the web at www.williams.edu/map

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