Kara Stein

Kara M. Stein was appointed by President Barack Obama to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and was sworn in on August 9, 2013. Commissioner Stein served as the Commission’s liaison to the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), represented the Commission at meetings of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), and was an ardent supporter of furthering diversity and inclusion initiatives at the SEC. Commissioner Stein sponsored the SEC’s LGBT and the Disability Interests Advisory Committees, and she served as the Chair of the SEC’s Diversity Council.

Commissioner Stein joined the Commission after serving as Senior Policy Advisor for securities and banking matters to U.S. Sen. Jack Reed.  From 2009 to 2013, she was Staff Director of the Securities, Insurance, and Investment Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. During her tenure in the U.S. Senate, Commissioner Stein also served as Staff Director of the Banking Committee’s Subcommittee on Housing and Transportation, as Legal Counsel to Sen. Jack Reed, and a Legislative Assistant to Sen. Chris Dodd.

Before working in the U.S. Senate, Commissioner Stein was an associate at the law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, an assistant professor with the University of Dayton School of Law, an Advocacy Fellow with the Georgetown University Law Center, and a Skadden Public Interest Fellow.

Commissioner Stein received her B.A. from Yale College and J.D. from Yale Law School.