Hester Maria Peirce is an American lawyer who serves as a Commissioner on the

Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...

(SEC). She previously served as the director of the Financial Markets Working Group at

George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...

Mercatus Center The Mercatus Center is an American libertarian, free-market-oriented non-profit think tank. The Mercatus Center is located at the George Mason University campus, but it is privately funded and its employees are independent of the university. It ...

. Peirce was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

in December 2017 to fill a Republican vacancy on the SEC. She was sworn in on January 11, 2018, for a term ending in 2020, and her second term expires in 2025. Peirce is a former staff member of the

United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs The United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (formerly the Committee on Banking and Currency), also known as the Senate Banking Committee, has jurisdiction over matters related to banks and banking, price controls, ...

and of the SEC. In 2016, she was nominated by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

for Commissioner on the SEC, but the

did not act on her nomination.

Education

Peirce earned her B.A. in economics from

Case Western Reserve University Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a Private university, private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1967 by a merger between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology. Case ...

(1993) and her J.D. from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...

(1997).

Career

Legal career

Peirce started her career as a clerk for Judge

Roger Andewelt Roger Barry Andewelt (August 4, 1946 – August 7, 2001) was a judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims from 1987 to 2001. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Andewelt received a Bachelor of Science from Brooklyn College in 1967, and served as ...

on the

Court of Federal Claims The United States Court of Federal Claims (in case citations, Fed. Cl. or C.F.C.) is a United States federal court that hears monetary claims against the U.S. government. It was established by statute in 1982 as the United States Claims Court, ...

from 1997 to 1998. Afterwards, she was an associate at

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

law firm

Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP, also known as WilmerHale, is an American multinational corporation, multinational law firm with offices in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Co-headquartered in Washington, D.C., and Boston, it was fo ...

(today WilmerHale) between 1998 and 2000. In 2000, Peirce served at the Securities and Exchange Commission, first as a staff attorney in the Division of

Investment Management Investment management (sometimes referred to more generally as financial asset management) is the professional asset management of various Security (finance), securities, including shareholdings, Bond (finance), bonds, and other assets, such as r ...

from 2000 to 2004 and then as

counsel A counsel or a counsellor at law is a person who gives advice and deals with various issues, particularly in legal matters. It is a title often used interchangeably with the title of ''lawyer''. The word ''counsel'' can also mean advice given ...

to Commissioner Paul S. Atkins from 2004 to 2008. Afterwards, Peirce worked as part of

Senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

Richard Shelby Richard Craig Shelby (born May 6, 1934) is an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Alabama from 1987 to 2023. First elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986 as a Democrat, Shelby switched to the Republican Party i ...

's staff on the

Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs The United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (formerly the Committee on Banking and Currency), also known as the Senate Banking Committee, has jurisdiction over matters related to banks and banking, price controls, ...

. In that position, Peirce's work mostly centered on the financial regulatory reform after the

2008 financial crisis The 2008 financial crisis, also known as the global financial crisis (GFC), was a major worldwide financial crisis centered in the United States. The causes of the 2008 crisis included excessive speculation on housing values by both homeowners ...

and the oversight of the regulatory implementation of the Dodd–Frank Act. Between 2012 and 2017, Peirce was a senior research fellow and the director of the Financial Markets Working Group at the

where she also teaches as an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, but the term is gen ...

at the

Antonin Scalia Law School The Antonin Scalia Law School is the law school of George Mason University, Virginia's largest public research university. It is located in Arlington, Virginia, roughly west of Washington, D.C., and east-northeast of George Mason University's ...

. Peirce is a member of the

Federalist Society The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies (FedSoc) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative and Libertarianism in the United States, libertarian legal organization that advocates for a Textualism, textualist an ...

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

In 2015, Peirce was chosen during the

Obama administration Barack Obama's tenure as the 44th president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2009, and ended on January 20, 2017. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois, took office following his victory over Republican nomine ...

to fill a Republican seat at the

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government, created in the aftermath of the Wall Street crash of 1929. Its primary purpose is to enforce laws against market m ...

. Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee attempted to block her nomination because she declined to fully commit to requiring corporations to publicly disclose political donations. Peirce was eventually approved by the Senate Banking Committee, but the full Senate never voted on her nomination. On July 18, 2017, the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

announced that President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

would nominate Peirce as a Commissioner of the SEC for the remainder of a five-year term expiring on June 5, 2020. She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on December 21, 2017, and sworn in on January 11, 2018. On August 6, 2020, the Senate confirmed Peirce by

voice vote In parliamentary procedure, a voice vote (from the Latin ''viva voce'', meaning "by live voice") or acclamation is a voting method in deliberative assemblies (such as legislatures) in which a group vote is taken on a topic or motion by respondin ...

for another five-year term expiring on June 5, 2025, and was sworn in on August 17, 2020.

Views

Peirce regularly contributed through books, articles, comments and statements to the debate about

banking regulation Banking regulation and supervision refers to a form of financial regulation which subjects banks to certain requirements, restrictions and guidelines, enforced by a financial regulatory authority generally referred to as banking supervisor, with ...

. She has been critical of the regulatory expansion enacted in response to the

. In her 2012 book ''Dodd-Frank, What It Does and Why It's Flawed'', she argues for economic freedom and against the idea that markets could be improved through regulatory ‘

micromanagement Micromanagement is a management style characterized by behaviors such as an excessive focus on observing and controlling subordinates and an obsession with details. Micromanagement generally has a negative connotation, suggesting a lack of fr ...

’. She stated that the more important regulation becomes, the less are banks oriented towards their actual duty, which is to service customers with financial opportunities. In 2016, a book she co-edited entitled ''Reframing Financial Regulation: Enhancing Stability and Protecting Consumers'' was published by the Mercatus Center. Peirce had opinion editorials published in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' in 2012 and in 2013, wherein she said it would be more sensible to let the market pare the big banks down to size rather than nationalizing them. Peirce has also authored articles in ''

American Banker ''American Banker'' is a New York-based trade publication covering the financial services industry. Originally a daily newspaper, the print edition ceased publication in 2016, but continues to be published as a print magazine nine times a year. ...

'', '' The Hill'' and ''FinRegRag''. In January 2017, she spoke at the

American Economic Association The American Economic Association (AEA) is a learned society in the field of economics, with approximately 23,000 members. It publishes several peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Review, an ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, where she discussed reforms of the role of financial regulators a topic she had previously raised in a video by the Mercatus Center in 2015. In 2018, Peirce argued that lawyers who work for large corporations practice a form of public interest law. She also suggested that her own work at the SEC "indirectly" qualified as public interest law. On May 25, 2022, Peirce stated that the United States had "dropped the regulatory ball" with respect to cryptocurrency regulation. In June 2022, Peirc
argued
in her capacity as a Commissioner at the

that "it is time for the Commission to stop denying categorically spot crypto exchange-traded products."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peirce, Hester Maria Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American writers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American women lawyers Members of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission George Mason University alumni Case Western Reserve University alumni Yale Law School alumni American economics writers First Trump administration personnel Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr associates Virginia Republicans 21st-century American women civil servants