President Biden has nominated two new commissioners—one Democrat and one Republican—to serve on the Securities and Exchange Commission and bring the agency back to full capacity.
In the April 6 announcement, Biden tapped Jaime Lizárraga, who currently serves as Senior Advisor to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), to serve in the forthcoming vacant slot for the Democrats. Mark Uyeda, who is a career attorney with the SEC, was nominated to fill the open Republican seat.
In his work for Pelosi, Lizárraga oversees issues relating to financial markets, housing, international financial institutions, immigration and small business policy, according to the White House announcement. He also serves as the Speaker’s liaison to the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. As part of his 31-year public service career, he also served on the Democratic staff of the House Financial Services Committee and as a presidential appointee at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the SEC.
Lizárraga graduated from the University of California, San Diego with high honors, and earned a master’s degree from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas.
Uyeda is currently on detail from the SEC to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, where he serves as Securities Counsel on the Committee’s Republican staff. He has more than 25 years of experience in corporate and securities law, including 18 years of public service working in federal and state government.
Uyeda joined the SEC in 2006 and has worked in various capacities, including as Senior Advisor to Chairman Jay Clayton and Acting Chairman Michael Piwowar, and as Counsel to Commissioner Paul Atkins. He has also served as Assistant Director and Senior Special Counsel in the SEC’s Division of Investment Management. The White House announcement also notes that Uyeda has been recognized with multiple SEC awards, including the SEC Chairman’s Award for Excellence and the SEC Capital Markets Award.
In addition, from 2004 to 2006, Uyeda served as Chief Advisor to the California Corporations Commissioner, the state’s securities regulator. Before entering public service, Uyeda was an attorney in private practice with O’Melveny & Myers LLP in Los Angeles, and Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP in Washington, D.C. He is a past President of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of the Greater Washington, D.C. area. Uyeda received his law degree with honors from Duke University and his undergraduate degree in business administration from Georgetown University.
“With nearly two decades of dedicated public service, including the last 15 years at the SEC, Mark Uyeda is exceptionally qualified to serve as an SEC Commissioner,” Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA), the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee said in a statement. “Having personally worked with Mark during his time as an SEC attorney detailed to the Senate Banking Committee, I know firsthand that Mark’s depth of knowledge on securities and markets is unrivaled.”
If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Uyeda would fill the open slot vacated in January by former Commissioner Elad Roisman. Lizárraga would fill the slot of Commissioner Allison Herren Lee, whose term expires in June. Lee announced in March that she plans to step down once the Senate confirms a new commissioner.
The SEC is currently comprised of Democrats Gary Gensler (Chair), Caroline Crenshaw and Lee; and Republican Hester Peirce. At full capacity, the SEC has five commissioners, with no more than three from one party.
