Allison Herren Lee was appointed by President Donald Trump to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate, and sworn into office on July 8, 2019. Ms. Lee was designated Acting Chair of the Commission by President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., on January 21, 2021.

Commissioner Lee brings to the SEC over two decades of experience as a securities law practitioner. Most recently, she has written, lectured, and taught courses internationally in Spain and Italy on financial regulation and corporate law. Commissioner Lee served for over a decade in various roles at the SEC, including as counsel to Commissioner Kara Stein, and as Senior Counsel in the Division of Enforcement’s Complex Financial Instruments Unit. In addition, she has served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney, was a member of the American Bar Association’s former Committee on Public Company Disclosure, and participated on a USAID project in Armenia, assisting in the drafting of periodic reporting and disclosure provisions for a comprehensive law of the Republic of Armenia on Securities Market Regulation.

Prior to government service, Commissioner Lee was a partner at Sherman & Howard LLC, focusing on securities, antitrust, and commercial litigation. A member of the Colorado bar, she holds a bachelor’s degree in Business from the University of Colorado and a JD from the University of Denver College of Law, where she was salutatorian, a Chancellor’s Scholar, and served on the Law Review.