The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday said it has selected C. Dabney O’Riordan, who is currently an associate regional director in the SEC’s Los Angeles regional office, to co-head the Division of Enforcement’s Asset Management Unit, according to an official statement.
Ms. O’Riordan lands at SEC to join Anthony Kelly as co-chief of the unit and succeeds Marshall Sprung, who left the agency in April. She has been a member of Enforcement’s Asset Management Unit since it was launched in 2010, and was named an Assistant Director for the Division in 2012.
The Enforcement Division is the SEC’s largest unit that includes many and varied professionals. In recent years, it has achieved remarkable success prosecuting financial crisis cases, insider trading and other violations, while returning billions to harmed investors.
Andrew J. Ceresney, Director of the SEC’s Enforcement Division, said that Dabney’s deep knowledge of the laws and rules governing the asset management industry makes her a perfect fit to co-lead the Asset Management Unit.
“I am confident that she and her co-chief, Anthony, will be great partners in the unit’s mission and the SEC’s efforts to root out misconduct in the asset management industry,” he added.
Significant Contributions
Before joining the SEC, Ms. O’Riordan served as a litigation associate for more than 4 years at Munger, Tolles & Olson in Los Angeles, and also worked as a law clerk to the Honorable David R. Thompson on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In her previous roles, Ms. O’Riordan’s supervised investigations on a number of enforcement cases addressing a wide variety of misconduct across the asset management industry. While working for the Asset Management Unit of the enforcement division, O’Riordan investigated and litigated a number of securities law violations that were firsts for the SEC, the agency said.
Commenting in the press release, Ms. O’Riordan said: “I am honored to lead the Asset Management Unit with Anthony. As someone who joined the unit at its inception, I have seen the talent and dedication of the unit’s staff in policing a vital industry that investors have entrusted with trillions of dollars in assets, and I look forward to continuing to build on the unit’s many successes.”
C. Dabney O’Riordan received her law degree from UCLA School of Law where she was Order of the Coif and her undergraduate degree with honors from Wellesley College.
