The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Rhea Kemble Dignam has been named Director of the SEC's Atlanta Regional Office.
Ms. Dignam joins the SEC from Ernst & Young LLP, where she served in a number of management positions from 2001 to 2009. She will oversee the Atlanta office's enforcement and examination activities in five states in the Southeast. Ms. Dignam succeeds Katherine (Kit) Addleman, who recently left the agency to return to private practice. Ms. Dignam will begin working at the SEC in March.
"Rhea brings a diverse legal background and extensive real-world expertise to her new position at the SEC," said SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro. "We are pleased that she will be joining our ongoing efforts to protect investors and ensure that firms are complying with the securities laws."
Robert Khuzami, Director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement, said, "The Enforcement Division is enormously fortunate that Rhea has agreed to lead our Atlanta Regional Office. The breadth and depth of her experience in law and finance, as well as her impressive leadership experience in complex organizations, will serve the investing public well."
Carlo di Florio, Director of the SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, said, "I know that Rhea will be an asset to the SEC's oversight of securities firms in the Atlanta region."
Ms. Dignam said, "I am honored and delighted to have been chosen as the SEC's Regional Director in Atlanta, and look forward to working with the talented and dedicated staff in carrying out the goals set by the Commission. Teaming with the SEC staff nationwide and colleagues in other federal, state and local agencies and at FINRA, the Atlanta Regional Office will continue to contribute significantly to the SEC's mission of protecting investors and the capital markets."
At Ernst & Young, Ms. Dignam served most recently as Principal and Americas Leader of Law Firm Services. In addition, she was part of the U.S. leadership team of the firm's Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services from 2001 to 2008, and played a key role in designing that unit's response to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
As Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at New York Life Insurance Company from 1993 to 2000, Ms. Dignam managed all litigation and alternative dispute resolution matters, chiefly in the areas of insurance and annuities, broker-dealer, investment management and advisory services, and employment.
Ms. Dignam was Executive Deputy Comptroller in the Office of the Comptroller in New York City from 1990 to 1993, and the Chief Assistant District Attorney in the Kings County District Attorney's Office in Brooklyn, N.Y., between 1988 and 1990. She served in several roles in the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of New York from 1976 to 1988, including Executive Assistant U.S. Attorney, Chief of the Public Corruption Unit, and Chief of the Narcotics Unit. Ms. Dignam began her legal career as an associate at the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell in 1976.
Ms. Dignam earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1969 from Wellesley College, where she was Phi Beta Kappa, and her JD from Harvard Law School in 1972.