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As John noted last week, the SEC turns 90 today, marking the anniversary of the enactment of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Prior to enactment of the Exchange Act, the Federal Trade Commission was tasked with implementing the Securities Act of 1933, so the creation of the SEC on June 6, 1934 no doubt came as welcome relief to the poor FTC staffers who were reportedly sleeping on cots in their office as they tried to deal with Securities Act registration statements that went effective within 20 days of filing per Securities Act Section 8(a). Over the years, the SEC came to be a much-admired agency, the protector of investors that also facilitated capital formation. On a personal note, the SEC became the center of my professional life for almost 30 years now.

The funny thing is that if Future Me went back in time to meet with Teenage Me as I was about to embark on my pursuit of higher education, and Future Me told Teenage Me that I would spend almost of all of my professional career working at the SEC, interacting with the SEC and writing and speaking about the SEC’s every move as it relates to the regulation of public disclosure, my reaction would have likely been: “What is the SEC?” In my blue collar upbringing, Wall Street, investing in public companies and the details of the administrative state were very distant concepts. Having grown up in Maryland and not being much of a college football fan at the time, Teenage Me would not have even assumed that Future Me was talking about the Southeastern Conference.

I believe that I first became interested in the SEC when I was in college, when the movie Wall Street came out in 1987. By the time of its premiere, I had been exposed to the broader world, and I had a cursory understanding of financial markets, accounting and financial reports. But the power of the SEC really caught my imagination when the SEC staffers were on hand to arrest Bud Fox for insider trading and to handle the wire when he had his fateful last meeting with Gordon Gekko. I thought then and there that, whatever it was that the SEC did, it seemed pretty exciting, and the seed was thus planted for me to ultimately go to law school for the express purpose of getting a job at the SEC.

As it turned out, I never got to tape a wire to anybody or to be present when an individual took a Bud Fox-style perp walk while I was working at the SEC. I got to sit at a gray metal desk and review Form 10 filings on an OS/2-powered computer. But that experience actually seemed very exciting to me, because I really wanted to be there to help carry out the SEC’s mission. And even though I am far removed from my SEC service today, I still believe in that mission, and I admire all of those who work at the agency to carry out that mission every day.

The SEC’s enduring esprit de corps and collegiality also gave me something for which I am forever grateful – a family. My kids were commenting just the other day about how so many of my friends and professional contacts are people that I know from the SEC community. I often refer to this group as my “SEC family,” and their friendship and kindness has been incredibly important to me on a professional and personal level. I think that says a lot about the SEC’s success, in that it is able to create such enduring bonds in a high pressure, professional environment that remains mission-focused.

So, on this 90th anniversary, I raise a toast to the SEC, its Commissioners and dedicated staff, past and present. Happy Birthday!

– Dave Lynn