FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2018-271

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Shira Pavis Minton, Ethics Counsel and Designated Agency Ethics Official, will be retiring from the agency this month after more than 20 years of federal service and nearly 10 years with the SEC.

The Ethics Office is charged with providing advice and counsel to Commission employees on all ethical issues, as well as coordinating and managing the agency's ethics and compliance program. During Pavis Minton’s tenure, the SEC implemented extensive changes to its Ethics Program, including enhanced regulation of employees' securities holdings and transactions, establishing a clearance system for employee’ securities transactions, and enhanced efforts to prevent and resolve conflicts of interest.

“For nearly a decade, Shira has provided consistent, thoughtful and sound ethics guidance to the Commission and its staff,” said Chairman Jay Clayton. “Indeed, Shira was one of the first SEC team members with whom I interacted, starting in the first days of the confirmation process, and I have been impressed from the beginning by her professionalism and dedication to the Commission and the public interest.”

Ms. Pavis Minton said “It has been such an honor to serve as Ethics Counsel with such competent, intelligent and dedicated colleagues. I am extremely proud of all that the Ethics Office has accomplished. My time at the SEC has been incredibly rewarding thanks to the many wonderful people I have met along the way.”

Prior to joining the SEC in 2010, Pavis Minton managed the ethics program and was the Alternate Designated Agency Ethics Official (ADAEO) at the Treasury Department, where she received the Secretary’s Certificate of Appreciation from Secretary Henry Paulson. Prior to the Treasury Department, Pavis Minton was the Assistant General Counsel for Ethics and ADAEO at the Federal Trade Commission. Pavis Minton was an attorney in private practice focusing on corporate law before serving in government.

Pavis Minton graduated with honors from Harvard Law School in 1996, and received her B.A. in Philosophy from Binghamton University in 1990.