(December 7 – 16:30 ET) – The North American Securities Administrators Association today named Royce Griffin as its new general counsel.

From 1991 until last year, Griffin, 53, served as chief deputy Attorney General of Arkansas. Prior to that, Griffin was senior counsel for the U.S. House Telecommunications and Finance Subcommittee; and from 1981 to 1987, he was Colorado Securities Commissioner. Griffin succeeds Karen O’Brien, who resigned October 1 to start a financial services consulting firm.

Griffin holds a BA in history from Harvard and a law degree from the University of Texas Law School. In the 80s, he was active in the NASAA, serving as president, on the board of directors and as chair of the enforcement section.

Griffin has also testified on securities legislation before Congress and state legislatures, and served as an expert witness in many civil and criminal securities cases. He served as an official adviser to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in the drafting of a new Uniform Securities Act. As special counsel to the New Mexico Securities Division, he wrote the first set of state rules interpreting the new Uniform Securities Act.

NASAA executive director Marc Beauchamp praised Griffin’s “extensive experience and knowledge of state and federal securities laws, the legislative process on Capitol Hill and the nuts and bolts of enforcement.”
-IE Staff