The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the appointment of Diego Tomás Ruiz, a long-time business executive with Univision, the leading Spanish-language media company in the United States, as its Executive Director.
In this capacity, Mr. Ruiz will serve as the Commission's chief operating officer, and will oversee the agency's programs relating to budget planning and execution, preparation of the agency's financial statements, human resources and employee relations, and administration of agency facilities. He will succeed Jim McConnell, who had served in the position since 1990. Mr. McConnell retired in June of this year.
"Diego brings to the Commission an exceptional background in management and a proven track record of financial and budgetary responsibility that will be exceptionally helpful to the Commission as we work to carry out our mission of investor protection," Chairman Christopher Cox said. "His combination of private and public sector experience, his extensive knowledge of business and finance, and his practiced judgment make him exceptionally qualified to discharge the Commission's administrative, management, and budget responsibilities. Diego is committed to ensuring that the SEC remains the employer of choice for financial professionals within the federal government, and that the agency continues to attract and retain a workforce of diverse and highly talented individuals."
"I look forward to working with the Commissioners and with the SEC's outstanding professional staff," Mr. Ruiz said. "It is an honor to join an agency with the Commission's reputation for professionalism, especially so because the agency is officially ranked one of the federal government's five best places to work. For me, and for the thousands of professionals who have committed their talents to the protection of America's investors and its capital markets, it is already number one."
For ten years, Mr. Ruiz served in a number of increasingly significant management positions for Los Angeles-based Univision Communications, Inc., a NYSE-listed component of the S&P 500 with operations including Spanish-language broadcast television, cable television, radio, Latin music, and Internet programming. During his tenure as Vice President/General Manager of Univision Online, it became the number one Spanish-language website in the U.S. in terms of traffic. In his various service as Vice President/General Manager and Station Manager of five of Univision's television stations-including KMEX-TV in Los Angeles, the city's top-rated network television station in any language-his responsibilities included management of operating budgets; recruiting, staffing, and personnel decisions; and labor union contract negotiations.
In January 2006, Mr. Ruiz left Univision to serve at the Federal Communications Commission in Washington, D.C. as Deputy Chief of the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis.
Mr. Ruiz has served as a member of the Board of Directors of the California Chamber of Commerce, the California Broadcasters Association, and the Sacramento chapter of the American Heart Association. While at Univision, he worked as a mentor to high school students through Communities in Schools, Inc.
Mr. Ruiz is a graduate of the Harvard Business School, where he earned an M.B.A. degree, and the University of Virginia, from which he earned a B.A. in English Literature and History.
He will start at the Commission on August 21, 2006.
