WICHITA, KANSAS (September 13, 2011) – Jack E. Herstein, Assistant Director of the Nebraska Department of Banking and Finance Bureau of Securities, today began a one-year term as president of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), the oldest international organization devoted to investor protection.
Herstein addressed an audience of investor advocates, financial industry leaders and securities regulators from throughout North America who returned to Kansas to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the first state securities law and the launch of the next century of investor protection.
“For the past 100 years, securities regulators in the states, provinces and territories of North America have delivered effective protection for investors and efficient regulation for industry. We have served a distinguished role in safeguarding the assets and maintaining the confidence of investors throughout North America,” Herstein said.
Herstein said his presidency will focus on ensuring that state regulatory authority is preserved. “As we have seen since NSMIA, our authority has been under attack,” he said. “I ask fellow regulators to join us in resisting efforts to reduce investor protections by restricting or eliminating state regulatory authority.”
Herstein praised his fellow state, provincial and territorial securities regulators for their commitment to investor protection through education and strong enforcement of state securities laws. “We are in the trenches every day, stepping up when and where others may be unlikely to act,” he said.
He noted that in 2010, state securities regulators conducted more than 7,000 investigations, which led to more than 3,500 enforcement actions, $14.1 billion ordered returned to investors and more than 1,100 years of jail time for securities law violators.
“The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act recognized NASAA’s leadership and record of accountability and gave state securities regulators new authority to address the challenges facing 21st century investors,” he said, noting that states are prepared for an increase of approximately 25 percent in the number of investment advisers who will come under state jurisdiction by mid-2012.
Herstein also announced NASAA’s new Board of Directors, including: President-elect Preston DuFauchard of California; Past President, David Massey, North Carolina; Rick Hancox, New Brunswick; Steven Irwin, Pennsylvania; Fred Joseph, Colorado; Andrea Seidt, Ohio; Patricia Struck, Wisconsin; and Franklin Widmann, Florida.
For the past year, Herstein has served as NASAA’s president-elect. Previously, he served as a member of the Board of Directors, treasurer and Corporation Finance Section chair. He has served as the assistant director for the Nebraska Department of Banking and Finance since January 1986. He joined the Nebraska Bureau of Securities in 1977 as a securities examiner. In 2005, he was appointed as an official observer of the Securities & Exchange Commission’s Advisory Committee on Smaller Public Companies.
The complete text of President Herstein’s inaugural address is available on the NASAA website, here.
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Bob Webster, Director of Communications, 202-737-0900
