The Harvard Law School Library staff invite you to attend a book talk and discussion in celebration of Going Public: My Adventures Inside the SEC and How to Prevent the Next Devastating Crisis (McGraw-Hill Education, March 17, 2017) by Norm Champ, Lecturer in Law, former Director of the Division of Investment Management at the SEC, and currently a partner in the Private Funds Group at Kirkland & Ellis. This book talk is co-sponsored by the Harvard Tax Law and Financial Regulation Students Association.
Wednesday, November 30, 2016 at noon, with lunch
Harvard Law School Room WCC 2036 Milstein East B (Directions)
1585 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge
More About Going Public: My Adventures Inside the SEC and How to Prevent the Next Devastating Crisis
“In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, the U.S. stock market went through seismic ruptures that destroyed businesses and damaged millions of lives. Daily revelations about an overly leveraged investment sector and endless scandal only underlined the vulnerability of the U.S. financial system. Facing its own ineptitude, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) had to shape up, but how would that be possible in a dysfunctional agency riddled with bureaucratic bungling, soul-killing work rules, and civil service privileges that defied common sense?
In Going Public, Norm Champ details his time spent as the Director of the Division of Investment Management at the SEC. He offers a rare examination inside a major federal agency during a crisis, and his insights and accounts illuminate conditions in our economy today. His narrative is supported by:
- Explanations on the inner workings of hedge funds, economic policy and politics, investing, and inefficient federal agencies;
- Recommendations for policy changes to create healthy, corruption-free markets and help prepare Americans for future crises;
- First-hand account of how players such as Ben Bernanke and Elizabeth Warren battled to shape Wall Street and financial reform; and
- Exploration of a string of narrowly averted financial disasters that were hidden from the world including one that has never been made public.
Though there are signals that we are recreating prime conditions for another crisis, Champ shows how policymakers can avoid triggering these events, strengthen America’s financial system, and through commonsense regulation and increased financial literacy, make the U.S. the world’s most vibrant market.” — McGraw-Hill Education
About Norm Champ
Mr. Champ is a lecturer on investment management at Harvard Law School. He began teaching in the fall of 2015, having just completed a term as Visiting Scholar. He joined Kirkland & Ellis LLP Investment Funds Group as a partner in February 2016. Mr. Champ is the former Director of the Division of Investment Management at the SEC. Under his leadership, the SEC adopted a new rule in July 2014 to reform money market mutual funds.
While at the SEC, Mr. Champ led the creation of the Division’s Risk and Examination Office which monitors the investment management industry to understand risks that regulations should address. He was the leader of the SEC’s interactions with the Financial Stability Oversight Council as the Council turned its attention to designating asset management firms as “systemically important.” He also worked on crisis management efforts at securities firms to protect customers of those firms. Mr. Champ also headed the creation of Guidance Updates and Senior Level Engagement, initiatives created to provide transparency to the industry and to engage with boards and senior managements of asset management firms, respectively. Mr. Champ also recommended that the Commission adopt the portion of the Volcker Rule covering private funds and other matters. For his service in the Division at the SEC, Mr. Champ received the Chairman’s Award for Law and Policy in 2014, the Chairman’s Award for Labor Management Relations in 2014 and the Chairman’s Analytical Methods Award in 2013.
Prior to becoming the Director of the Division of Investment Management, he was the Deputy Director of the SEC’s Office of Compliance, Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) and the Associate Regional Director for Examinations in the SEC’s New York Regional Office. In that capacity he supervised examinations of broker-dealers, investment advisers/investment companies, exchanges, clearing agencies and credit rating agencies. While at OCIE in 2011, Mr. Champ received the Chairman’s Award for Law and Policy and the Chairman’s Award for Labor-Management Relations.
Mr. Champ participated in the SEC’s Technical Assistance program in Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Hong Kong. He is a frequent and seasoned speaker having spoken on securities law topics at SEC programs, Princeton University’s Bendheim Center for Finance, the Practicing Law Institute, ICI, SIFMA, MFA, the Saudi Central Bank, the New York City Bar Association, the International Bar Association, the ACA Compliance Group and others.
Before joining the SEC in 2010, Mr. Champ was Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Chilton Investment Company, an investment adviser to long/short equity hedge funds and managed accounts. Prior to joining Chilton in 1999, Mr. Champ was at the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell. From 1990 to 1992, Mr. Champ clerked for the Honorable Charles S. Haight, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Mr. Champ has an A.B., summa cum laude, in History from Princeton University and a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School. He was a Fulbright Scholar at King’s College London where he received his M.A. in War Studies.