SEC Names Ernesto Lanza as Acting Director of Municipal Securities Office

(Source: LinkedIn)

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that it has named Ernesto Lanza as Acting Director of the Office of Municipal Securities (OMS). Lanza has served as Senior Counsel to the OMS Director since 2019.

According to the press release, Lanza will replace Rebecca J. Olsen, who was named Deputy Chief for the Division of Enforcement's Public Finance Abuse (PFA) Unit. Mark R. Zehner, who held the PFA role since July 2010, is retiring from the agency after 25 years of service.

Before joining the commission in 2019, Lanza was in private practice with a focus on public finance matters related to securities law, disclosure, and market structure issues. He previously served as the Deputy Executive Director of the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board (MSRB).

Before that, he was the MSRB's Chief Legal Officer and General Counsel. Lanza holds a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and earned his undergraduate degree cum laude from Harvard University.

"I look forward to working closely with Ernie on oversight of municipal securities,"said SEC Chair Gary Gensler."This critical $4 trillion market finances local governments and the essential infrastructure of our communities, such as roads, hospitals, and schools. I thank Rebecca for her leadership of OMS since 2018 and congratulate Mark on his retirement from the SEC."

Last month, the SEC has announced the appointment of Haoxiang Zhu​, a professor of finance at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as Director of the agency's Division of Trading and Markets.