Stephen Sibold, former chairman of both the Alberta Securities Commission and the Canadian Securities Administrators, has been named a 2007-2008 Canada-U.S. Fulbright Scholar.

Sibold will be pursuing graduate studies in corporate governance and securities regulation at the Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, where he will be assessing Canada’s regulatory response to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002.

Sibold will be on a leave of absence from his current firm, Bennett Jones LLP, effective August 1. He will return to the firm in May 2008 to resume his corporate governance and securities law advisory practice.

He returned to Bennett Jones after 10 years of working in the public and private sectors. From 1996 to 2000, Sibold served as senior vice-president and general counsel of Canadian Airlines Corp., and from 2000 to 2005, he was chair and CEO of the ASC. From 2003 to 2005, Sibold also served as chair of the CSA.

“We at the Foundation are especially pleased to welcome Steve to the Fulbright family. I am sure that his research will contribute greatly to his field and that he will make an important contribution to mutual understanding,” said Michael Hawes, executive director, Foundation for Educational Exchange between Canada and the United States of America, in a news release.

The Canada-U.S. Fulbright program supports research on contemporary public policy issues relevant to Canada, the US, and the relationship between the two countries. The Canada-U.S. Fulbright program was founded in 1991.

“The firm proudly supports Steve in pursuit of this opportunity,” says Hugh MacKinnon, chairman and CEO of Bennett Jones. “He has made a tremendous contribution to our clients and to the community over the years, and will undoubtedly contribute greatly to the legal and regulatory understanding of corporate governance in Canada through his research.”