Biography
Rick Fleming was appointed in February, 2014, to be the first director of the Office of the Investor Advocate at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. As the Investor Advocate, Mr. Fleming has built an office charged with the responsibility for assisting retail investors in their interactions with the Commission and self-regulatory organizations (SROs), analyzing the impact on investors of proposed rules and regulations, identifying problems that investors have with financial service providers and investment products, and proposing legislative or regulatory changes to promote the interests of investors.
Prior to joining the Commission, Mr. Fleming spent fifteen years as a state securities regulator, including more than a decade as General Counsel for the Office of the Kansas Securities Commissioner. He represented the state in a broad range of disciplinary proceedings against broker-dealers and investment advisers, prosecuted criminal cases involving securities fraud, and drafted legislation and regulations to protect investors. He moved to Washington, D.C. in 2011 – along with his wife and six children – to become the Deputy General Counsel for the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), where he provided assistance to state securities regulators.
Mr. Fleming was raised in LeRoy, Kansas, graduated summa cum laude from Washburn University with a dual major in finance and economics, and holds a law degree from Wake Forest University. His published works include “100 Years of Securities Law: Examining a Foundation Laid in the Kansas Blue Sky,” 50 Washburn L.J. 583 (2011), in which he traces the origin of the term “blue sky law.”