Paul S. Atkins is an American businessman who has served as chair of 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 ...

(SEC) since April 2025. Atkins also previously served as a commissioner at the SEC from 2002 to 2008. Known for advocating reduced regulatory burdens and promoting financial innovation, Atkins has been a vocal supporter of free-market principles in regulatory policy.

Early life and education

Originally from

Lillington, North Carolina Lillington is a town in and the county seat of Harnett County, North Carolina, United States. Its population was 3,194 at the 2010 census, and was 4,735 in the 2020 census. Lillington is a part of the Dunn micropolitan area, which is also a ...

, Atkins grew up in

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

. He received his A.B. from

Wofford College Wofford College is a private liberal arts college in Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States. Founded in 1854, it is one of the few four-year institutions in the southeastern United States founded before the American Civil War that still ope ...

in 1980 and was a member of

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

"Paul S. Atkins"
, Patomak website bio. Retrieved 2011-04-22. and Kappa Alpha Order. Atkins received his J.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Law in 1983 and was Senior Student Writing Editor of the Vanderbilt Law Review.

Career

Atkins began his career as a lawyer in New York City with

Davis Polk & Wardwell Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, commonly known as Davis Polk, is an American multinational corporation, multinational law firm headquartered in New York City with offices in Washington, D.C., Menlo Park, California, Menlo Park, London, Madrid, Brussel ...

, focusing on a wide range of corporate transactions for U.S. and foreign clients, including public and private securities offerings and mergers and acquisitions. He worked in the Paris office for two and a half years, and in 1988 was admitted to provide legal advice in France. Before his appointment as commissioner, Atkins assisted financial services firms in improving their compliance with SEC regulations and worked with law enforcement agencies to investigate and rectify situations where investors had been harmed. Most prominent among these situations was Bennett Funding Group, Inc., a $1 billion leasing company that perpetrated the then-largest "

Ponzi Charles Ponzi (; ; born Carlo Pietro Giovanni Guglielmo Tebaldo Ponzi; March 3, 1882 – January 18, 1949) was an Italian charlatan and con artist who operated in the United States and Canada. His aliases included ''Charles Ponci'', ''Carlo'' ...

" fraud to date in U.S. history. More than 20,000 investors lost much of their investment. Assisting the company's court-appointed bankruptcy trustee, Atkins served as crisis president of Bennett's sole surviving subsidiary, according to his SEC biography. By stabilizing its finances and operations and rebuilding and expanding its business, he improved its share value for the remaining investors by almost 2000%. From 1990 to 1994, Atkins served on the staff of two former chairmen of the SEC, Richard C. Breeden and

Arthur Levitt Arthur Levitt Jr. (born February 3, 1931) is the former chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He served from 1993 to 2001 as the twenty-fifth and longest-serving chairman of the commission. Widely hailed as a ...

. Under Chairman Breeden, he assisted in efforts to improve regulations regarding corporate governance, enhance shareholder communications, strengthen management accountability through proxy reform, and decrease barriers to entry for small businesses and middle market companies to the capital markets. Under Chairman Levitt, he was responsible for organizing the SEC's individual investor program, including the first investor town hall meetings, and an SEC consumer affairs advisory committee. Atkins was a commissioner of the

(SEC) from July 9, 2002 until his term's completion in August 2008.SEC Biography: Commissioner Paul S. Atkins
Security Exchange Commission. Retrieved February, 2011. He served with chairmen Harvey Pitt, William H. Donaldson, and Christopher Cox. In December 2016, Atkins joined a business forum assembled by President-elect Trump to provide strategic and policy advice on economic issues. Atkins was co-chair of the Token Alliance, a cryptocurrency advocacy group for the Chamber of Digital Commerce. In December 2024, Atkins was nominated by President-elect Trump to be chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. He was sworn in on April 21, 2025.

Personal life

Atkins has three sons with his wife Sarah Humphreys Atkins, who is a major Republican donor.

Early life and education

Career

Personal life

References

See also