LOCATION

George Washington University School of Business
Duquès Hall, Room 651
2201 G Street NW (main entrance on 22nd Street between G and H Streets)

Bio: Gerri Walsh

Distinguished Financial Literacy Speaker

Senior Vice President, FINRA Office of Investor Education

President, FINRA Investor Education Foundation

Gerri Walsh is Senior Vice President of Investor Education at the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). In this capacity, she is responsible for the development and operations of FINRA’s investor education program. She is also President of the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, where she manages the Foundation’s grant making and programmatic efforts to educate and protect investors. Her work focuses especially on traditionally underinvested groups of Americans, including young adults, women, Native Americans and members of U.S. military. She joined FINRA in May 2006.

 

From February 2002 to April 2006, Ms. Walsh served as Deputy Director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Office of Investor Education and Assistance (OIEA). In that capacity, she managed the agency’s investor education program, oversaw the handling of investor complaints and questions, and advised senior agency staff on policy matters relating to investor protection. She previously worked for four years as the Special Counsel to the Director of OIEA and three years as a senior attorney in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement where she investigated and prosecuted violators of the federal securities laws. During her tenure at the SEC, Ms. Walsh received the 2004 SEC Law & Policy Award in connection with focus group initiatives for the agency’s proposed point of sale disclosure rules, the Department of Agriculture’s 2002 Honor Award of Excellence for participating on an inter-agency team that developed financial literacy programs, and the SEC’s 2001 Productivity Improvement Award as part of the team that overhauled and redesigned the agency’s Web site.

 

Prior to joining the SEC in 1994, Ms. Walsh was an associate with Hogan & Hartson, a Washington, D.C. law firm. She received her J.D. from N.Y.U. School of Law in 1989 and her B.A., magna cum laude, from Amherst College in 1985. She is a member of the New York and District of Columbia bars. She is on the Board of Gifts for the Homeless, Inc. (a non-profit, all-volunteer organization dedicated to clothing to the homeless in the greater D.C. area) and she also serves as Vice President for New Clothing Purchases