The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced the new Small Business Advocate – a role that has been vacant for some time now. The Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation was created by legislation that was signed into law in 2016. A search for the first Advocate commenced in 2017. It was not until 2019 that Martha Legg Miller became the first Advocate. She left the position in mid 2022, and the position has been vacant, filled with a temporary appointment ever since.
According to a release, the Commission has appointed University of Denver law professor Stacey Bowers to be the director of the SEC’s Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation after the extended vacancy.
Bowers issued the following statement on the news of her appointment:
“The capital formation process is both rewarding and challenging, and the SEC’s Small Business Advocate can help make it a little less daunting for entrepreneurs to succeed in raising the capital they need for their businesses and their investors to thrive. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed serving on the SEC’s Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee this past year and look forward to returning to work at the agency where my legal career began, working alongside such talented SEC staff, particularly within OASB, who are so devoted to ensuring our capital markets work fairly and efficiently for everyone.”
Bowers is a Professor of the Practice at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and Of Counsel at 3Pillars Law, PLLC. She has also been a member of the SEC’s Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee (SBCFAC). In the 90s, Bowers was a Staff Attorney at the SEC.
Bowers has written about crowdfunding in the past, including an article entitled The Proposed Crowdfunding Rules for Non-Accredited Investors and the Potential Associated Costs for Small Issuers and a presentation on Raising Capital and Crowdfunding.
The relatively new Office of the Advocate at the SEC was created to advocate on behalf of smaller firms, which are too frequently ignored or saddled with regulations that undermine the ability of firms to thrive. Independent by design, the Commission has largely ignored its past advocacy to improve capital formation as well as boost access to private securities for smaller investors.
In an X, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, a long-time supporter of Fintech and advocate of smaller investors and smaller firms, welcomed Bowers to the new role. Peirce stated:
“Welcome to Stacey Bowers, our new Small Business Advocate. Although our views on regulating the public & private markets may differ, I look forward to working with her to ensure that small businesses can find the capital they need.”
