A. A. Sommer, Jr. LectureThe annual Sommer Lecture is one of the Corporate Law Center’s most significant and influential events. Through this lecture series, the world’s leading regulators share with the Law School and the business community their insights into the critical problems confronting the global financial markets. Past speakers have included leaders from the country's most important regulatory agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission, the National Association of Securities Dealers, and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.The Tenth Annual A. A. Sommer, Jr. Lecture on Corporate, Securities, and Financial Law will be held on October 28, 2009. Elisse B. Walter was appointed by then President George W. Bush to the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission and was sworn in on July 9, 2008. During January 2009, under designation by President Barack Obama, she served as Acting Chairman of the Commission. Commissioner Walter has an illustrious career of public service, with leadership positions at FINRA (the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority), the SEC, and financial industry regulation entities. Prior to her appointment in 2008 as a Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Ms. Walter served as FINRA's senior executive vice president for regulatory policy and programs, as the General Counsel of the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (1994 – 1996), and from 1977 to 1994, in various staff positions at the SEC, including Deputy Director of the Division of Corporation Finance (1986 - 1994) and Associate General Counsel (1984 - 1986). Commissioner Walter has received many honors including the U. S. Presidential Rank Award (Distinguished), the SEC Chairman’s Award for Excellence, the SEC Distinguished Service Award and the Federal Bar Association’s Manuel F. Cohen and Philip Loomis Jr. Awards. Ms. Walter is a member of the YWCA Academy of Women Achievers and served on the Boards of Trustees of the SEC Historical Society and Jewish Women International. Upon her appointment as an SEC Commissioner, Paul Schott Stevens, President and CEO of the Investment Company Institute, praised Ms. Walter’s devotion to the public sector; “Throughout the last three decades, Elisse Walter has played a key role in helping to shape financial regulator policies through her work… In her new role as an SEC member, she will be an effective advocate for protecting investors and promoting the vibrancy of our capital markets.” Commissioner Walter received her B.A. degree cum laude from Yale University and her J.D. degree cum laude from Harvard University.
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