[ a lu m n i n ew s ] ALUMNI PROFILE: STEVE VARHOLIK ’02
Public Service Through Securities Regulation s a m a n t h a B ro n s o n
When the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was signed into law in July 2010, the landmark legislation became what many regard as the most sweeping change to financial regulations since the Great Depression. It also became much of what Steve Varholik ’02 spends his time working on. As special counsel with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC), Varholik works with other commission staff to assist the five presidentially appointed commissioners. This includes interpreting and enforcing federal securities laws, overseeing the markets and market participants, issuing new rules, and amending existing rules under the federal securities laws. With the passage of the Dodd-Frank Act came more than 90 provisions that require SEC rulemaking. Varholik’s division is responsible for a significant portion of those rules. “I spend a substantial part of my time drafting and developing regulations for the security-based swap market and meeting with swaps market participants, domestic and foreign regulators, and others to consider their views on our rulemaking,” Varholik said. It’s a focus Varholik didn’t foresee when he began law school, despite having some securities industry experience working for a global investment manager. His first securities regulation course with Matthew O’Toole (adjunct professor and assistant regional director in the SEC’s San Francisco office) piqued his interest in securities law. After law school Varholik worked in the securities litigation and security industry practice groups of the Washing-
ton, D.C., office of Garvey Schubert Barer. At the same time, he pursued an LLM in securities and financial regulation at Georgetown Law, where he now teaches as an adjunct professor. He joined the SEC in 2008. He worked in the Divison of Trading Markets until October, when he moved to the Division of Enforcement. Varholik sees one of the most challenging aspects of his position as weighing the interests of investors, the securities industry, market participants, and all Americans as new rules are developed. “We have a lot of meetings with folks that have strong interests relating to our rulemaking and we sometimes have to make tough choices in balancing these different interests,” he said. “We work very hard to get the rules right that we recommend to our commissioners for proposal or adoption.” Varholik credits USF for helping inspire him to pursue a career in public service. Throughout his work, he looks to the country’s past, pointing out that federal securities laws and the SEC came into existence after the Great Crash of 1929. At the time, he said, there was widespread fraud and abuse in our securities markets and low public confidence in our capital markets. “Since then, I believe that our securities laws and the SEC have played a critical role in making our capital markets the best in the world,” Varholik said. “The recent financial crisis has demonstrated a similar need to stabilize our financial system and restore the public’s confidence. I feel very fortunate to be part of that work.” [USF]
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