Hester Peirce
Hester Peirce is one of the five Commissioners of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, an independent federal government regulatory agency. In 2020, she won a second term as a commissioner of the SEC; she was first appointed to the role in 2018 by then President Donald Trump. Commissioner Peirce has earned the nickname “Crypto Mom” for her support of digital assets, as well as the criticism of over-regulation of these assets. She has openly advocated for cryptocurrency in the face of skepticism from many of her colleagues, including current Chair Gary Gensler. Prior to joining the SEC, Commissioner Peirce conducted research on the regulation of financial markets at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She was a Senior Counsel on the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, where she advised Ranking Member Richard Shelby and other members of the Committee on securities issues.
Hester Peirce Professional Experience / Academic History
Professional Experience
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Commissioner
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Senior Research Fellow and Director of the Financial Markets Working Group
Academic History
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J.D., Law
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B.A., Economics
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Commissioner Peirce is held up as industry champion at the SEC for often going toe-to-toe against crypto enemy No. 1, chairman Gary Gensler.
She has said that it's important that the SEC become "a bit more nimbler with respect to innovation."
She first served as a staff attorney in the Division of Investment Management and then as counsel to Commissioner Paul Atkins.
LEGAL CAREER
Commissioner Peirce was an associate at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, now WilmerHal, and clerked for Judge Roger Andewelt on the Court of Federal Claims.
Before joining Mercatus Center, she served on Senator Richard Shelby’s staff on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.
In that position, she worked on financial regulatory reform following the financial crisis of 2008 as well as oversight of the regulatory implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act.
MEDIA & APPEARANCES
Peirce has been profiled, featured, or quoted in various financial media outlets and publications.
She has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Yahoo! Finance, Forbes, Bloomberg, Worth Magazine, Fox Business, CNN, Reuters, and more.
She has also appeared in CNBC, InvestmentNews, TechCrunch, Blockworks, Cointelegraph, The Block, and CoinDesk, among others.