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Arthur Levitt    

Chairman, Securities and Exchange Commission (1993-2001)

Arthur Levitt joined The Carlyle Group as a senior advisor to the firm. He advises Carlyle management on strategic business matters.

Prior to joining Carlyle, Levitt was the 25th chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. First appointed by President Clinton in July 1993, the President reappointed Levitt to a second five-year term in May 1998. In September 1999, he became the longest-serving chairman of the Commission. He left the Commission in February 2001.

Investor protection was Levitt's top priority. Throughout his tenure at the Commission, he worked to educate, empower and protect Americas investors. Early in his tenure, Levitt created the Office of Investor Education and Assistance and established a website, which allows the public free and easy access to corporate filings and investor education materials. He conducted more than 40 investor town meetings throughout the country to listen to the concerns of investors and to give them tips on safe and wise participation in the securities markets.

Before joining the Commission, Levitt owned Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill. From 1989 to 1993, he served as the chairman of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, and from 1978 to 1989, he was the chairman of the American Stock Exchange. Prior to joining the Amex, Levitt worked for 16 years on Wall Street.

Levitt graduated from Williams College, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, in 1952 before serving for two years in the Air Force. Levitts best-selling book, TAKE ON THE STREET: What Wall Street and Corporate America Dont Want You to Know/What You Can Do to Fight Back was published by Pantheon Books.

Speech Topics


It Affects All of Us

The US economy is on the brink of--or is already in--a recession. The stock prices of the biggest banks and financial service companies are dropping. With such deep losses come layoffs, and thousands of jobs have been cut at banks and in other companies. Hundreds of billions of dollars have been lost by companies and investors--and the effects have been felt worldwide. Arthur Levitt discusses how this happened and what can be done about it.

Trust - What it Means and How to Maintain It

As we find ourselves in an economic environment in which credit is tight, the dollar has lost much of its relative value, and confidence in our financial system has been badly shaken, consumers have curtailed their spending, and businesses are facing lower profits. Levitt references the Enron and Worldcom debacles to instill a glimmer of hope for our economic future: restoring trust. Trust, according to Levitt, is the lifeblood of our markets: You will only invest in a company if you trust the numbers they give you; you will only put your retirement in a certain mutual fund if you trust that the fund's managers are being held accountable for their decisions; and you will only lend anyone money if you trust that there is a way to enforce the terms of your loan agreement. Levitt provides reasonable, plausible solutions to curtail the financial dovetail, including regulations standardization across state boundaries, palatable disclosures, and the prohibition of predatory lending practices.

Trust - What it Means and How to Maintain It

Almost every day on television you will see ads that promise to clean up your credit score, give you more money, and put you in the car or house of your dreams. As amusing (or annoying) as these ads might be, they are important because the services and products that companies are offering are part and parcel of the subprime mess or credit crisis that we are seeing today. Arthur Levitt draws a direct line from places like the Mortgage Center to Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, the health of the stock market, the actions of the Federal Reserve, and the economic future of the United States and the entire world.

The Economic Future

Almost every day on television you will see ads that promise to clean up your credit score, give you more money, and put you in the car or house of your dreams. As amusing (or annoying) as these ads might be, they are important because the services and products that companies are offering are part and parcel of the subprime mess or credit crisis that we are seeing today. Arthur Levitt draws a direct line from places like the Mortgage Center to Citigroup and Merrill Lynch, the health of the stock market, the actions of the Federal Reserve, and the economic future of the United States and the entire world.

Pensions The Coming Crisis

The pension crisis for U.S. businesses and employees is once again making headlines, threatening to engulf U.S. automakers as it did with steel companies and the airline industry. For three decades, the current pension structure has allowed a shell-game system of pension accounting to develop that misleads taxpayers and investors about the true fiscal health of their cities and companies, while allowing management to make promises to workers that saddle future generations with huge costs. Solutions are underway: proposals to shore up the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) are making their way through Congress. However, the problem will only get worse unless immediate action is taken to bring accuracy, transparency and accountability to pension accounting. Arthur Levitt, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, provides an all-too-salient discussion of the current pension problems faced by todays economy, along with recommendations about repairing them for both the short and long term.

Take On The Street

Former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitts sympathies have always been with the everyday investor: from establishing a website that allows free and easy access to corporate filings and investor education materials to holding numerous investor town meetings throughout the country to hear investors concerns, Levitt has always made their needs a priority. In this presentation, based on his best-selling book of the same name, Levitt reveals the tactics of wise investment in plain language, then spells out how to intelligently invest in mutual funds and the stock market. His advice, aimed not only at individual investors but also at brokerages and investment houses, shows audiences how to interpret annual reports, understand press releases and draw from more from reliable sources.

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The Future of Corporate Governance

Perhaps nothing's more important and more difficult than navigating the compliance and regulatory issues governing todays market. For corporations to survive and thrive, a clear coherent understanding of Sarbanes-Oxley regulation, along with current and potential regulation is not only important, but necessary. Former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt provides audiences with innumerable strategies to continue being compliant and avoid penalties and investigations.

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News


Nothing Kills Faster Than Success (Podcast)
February 1, 2019... Kirk Dando joins former SEC chairman Arthur Levitt to discuss his book and how he has spent the last twenty plus years...

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