• GO TO: President Gerold’s Speech

WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 10, 2019) – New Jersey Securities Bureau Chief Christopher W. Gerold today began a one-year term after having been elected the 102st president of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), the oldest international organization devoted to investor protection and responsible capital formation.

“As NASAA’s president, I will work my hardest to ensure that NASAA advances its history of investor protection. I am committed to see that NASAA remains a vibrant and successful organization,” Gerold said in his inaugural address at NASAA’s 2019 Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas. “As regulators, the things we do matter. Chances are we may never meet many of the people we are helping – those who we have prevented from being victims,” Gerold said. “Enforcement of state and provincial securities laws is at the heart of what we do every day.”

During his address, Gerold said he looks forward to continuing NASAA’s collaborative with the SEC and FINRA on investor protection initiatives. “Protecting investors requires all hands-on deck,” he said. “We may not always agree, but that does not mean we cannot put differences aside to work toward our common mission of investor protection.”

Gerold also announced NASAA’s leadership for his term. The new Board of Directors includes: President-elect Lisa Hopkins of West Virginia, Past President Michael Pieciak of Vermont, Bill Beatty of Washington, Andrew Hartnett of Iowa, Kevin Hoyt of New Brunswick, Travis Iles of Texas, Claire McHenry of Nebraska, and Tanya Solov of Illinois.

President Gerold will ask NASAA’s Board of Directors to approve the following administrators to serve as chairs of NASAA’s sections: Broker-Dealer, Leslie Van Buskirk of Wisconsin; Corporation Finance, Melanie Lubin of Maryland; Enforcement, Joe Borg of Alabama; Investment Adviser, Alex Glass of Indiana; and Investor Education, Lynne Egan of Montana.

President Gerold has served as a member of NASAA’s Board of Directors and as chair of NASAA’s Enforcement Section. He has served as Bureau Chief of the Bureau of Securities within the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General since 2017. He began his legal career as a Deputy Attorney General in the Securities Fraud Prosecution Section of the New Jersey Division of Law, where from 2005 to 2010 he represented the Bureau during investigations and as a lead trial attorney in litigated matters. Before returning to public service, Mr. Gerold was an attorney with the law firm of Chiesa, Shahinian & Giantomasi PC where he was a member of the firm’s Securities Litigation and Enforcement Group.