Federal Reserve Board Governor Mark W. Olson has been appointed chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, according to an announcement by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
He will succeed Acting Chairman Bill Gradison, who will remain a member of the PCAOB. Olson will lead the five-member accounting oversight board until 2010.
“Mark Olson’s experience as a central banker, his background in securities law, his expertise gained as partner in a major accounting firm, his management and business experience as a bank president, and his national leadership as president of the American Bankers’ Association — together with his demonstrated commitment to public service and protecting the interests of investors — will be an exceptional addition to the PCAOB,” said SEC Chairman Christopher Cox, in a statement.
Olson joined the Fed in late 2001. In addition to his policy-making duties as a Federal Reserve governor, since August 2002 he has served as administrative governor, responsible for management of the board as a whole. He also serves on the Fed’s Committee on Supervisory and Regulatory Affairs and is chairman of the Committee on Consumer and Community Affairs. From 2000 to 2001, he was staff director of the Securities Subcommittee of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee.
Separately, Cox announced that founding PCAOB member Kayla Gillan was re-appointed to the board. From 1986 until her initial appointment in 2002, Gillan served in various positions at the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, concluding her tenure at CalPERS as general counsel.
“Her dual perspective, first representing a major institutional investor that relies upon audit reports, and most recently as a regulator of the preparation of those reports, will continue to be particularly helpful in our efforts to get investors reliable, informative, and user-friendly information about public companies,” said Cox, in a statement. “Her experience with Sarbanes-Oxley implementation, and her leadership in reducing the costs of section 404 compliance while increasing its usefulness to investors, are exceptional assets to the PCAOB, to the regulated community, and to America’s investors.”