Plaze to Retire After 30 Years at SEC

Plaze first joined the SEC in 1983 as an attorney in the Division of Investment Management, and has since served as special counsel, assistant director, associate director for regulatory policy and deputy director.

“Few people have had as great an impact shaping the regulatory landscape for the benefit of individual investors,” said SEC Chairman Mary L. Schapiro. “Bob’s keen intellect and passion for investor protection have been central to virtually every significant rule affecting mutual funds and investment advisers for more than a generation.”

Norm Champ, director of the Division of Investment Management, added: “Bob has been instrumental in the creation of the regulatory regime for investment advisers and investment companies. He has had a long and distinguished career working on behalf of investors.”

Plaze has worked on rulemaking for money market funds and on implementing a Dodd-Frank Act requirement for hedge funds, as well as on numerous mutual fund governance practices—including fee tables in mutual fund prospectuses, standardized fund performance in advertisements, the adoption of compliance programs at fund investment advisers, and protecting pension plans and other investors from “pay-to-play” practices.

Plaze also was given the SEC’s Distinguished Services Award and, twice, the agency’s Law Policy Award. He is a graduate of Georgetown University and Georgetown University Law Center.

Plaze said: “It’s been an honor and privilege to work at the Commission. When I began, I expected to stay a few years, but I found that the issues were so engaging and the work so important that I remained here for nearly three decades.”