The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has hired a new director of its Division of Corporation Finance.

Alan Beller will become the next head of the division. He will be also be senior counselor to the commission, a new position created to take advantage of Beller’s unique qualifications.

The SEC says that there is an urgent need to reform its capital raising and disclosure regimes. It is committed to improving, streamlining and expediting corporate disclosure dissemination, and to enabling seasoned corporate issuers to access the capital markets more efficiently. Beller will oversee and direct these reform efforts, as well as lead all facets of the corporate disclosure and corporate transactional programs.

SEC chairman Harvey Pitt said, “The reform of the way in which capital is raised and corporate disclosures are made and disseminated is the most critical project on our current agenda. These undertakings are complex and challenging, and require the guidance of one of the world’s foremost authorities on corporate and securities laws. Alan Beller is uniquely qualified to perform that role, and the commission is enormously fortunate that he is willing to join and lead us in this critical endeavor.”

Beller, 52, is an expert on corporate and securities laws at the international law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, where he became a partner in 1984. He has worked in three of Cleary Gottlieb’s worldwide offices — New York, Paris and Tokyo — and his practice has focused on the entire spectrum of corporate, securities and derivatives issues, both domestic and international. Beller is co-chair of the International Subcommittee of the American Bar Association’s Committee on Federal Regulation of Securities.

Beller said, “We are at a critical crossroads in government regulation of capital formation and disclosure in the U.S. and global securities markets. The need for reform and modernization of the regulatory framework, and SEC chairman Harvey Pitt’s commitment to moving forward on these issues, makes this an irresistible opportunity. I am honored that the SEC has invited me to help shape these critical decisions.”