The US Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) deputy director and chief counsel of the division of investment management Paul Cellupica will depart his role at the end of January.
Cellupica rejoined the division as deputy director in November 2017, and became chief counsel in June 2018.
Previously, he served in several leadership capacities in the division of investment management and the division of enforcement from 1996 to 2004.
Prior to rejoining the division 2017, Cellupica was managing director and general counsel for securities law at Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America. Prior to that, he was chief counsel for the Americas at MetLife.
Under Cellupica’s leadership in his most recent role, the investment management office of the chief counsel has helped contribute to a number of initiatives including COVID-19 emergency relief, actively managed non-transparent exchange-traded funds, proxy voting, and guidance of the second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive, among others.
He also played an important role in rulemaking initiatives such as the adoption of rules permitting a ‘notice and access’ method of delivering shareholder reports; revisions to the Volcker rule; development of a summary prospectus for variable insurance products; and the commission's interpretation regarding investment advisers' fiduciary duty.
In addition, he helped lead the formulation of division policy on critical topics such as fund investments in cryptocurrency; investment adviser custody of non-traditional assets, including digital assets; cybersecurity; the transition from London Inter-bank Offered Rate; registered fund investments in private funds; closed-end fund governance; and investment company status issues involving operating companies.
Cellupica’s departure will see Brent Fields become acting deputy director and acting chief counsel of the division of investment management.
Dalia Blass, director of the division of investment management at the SEC, says Cellupica’s expertise, knowledge and commitment to the SEC “have been invaluable assets as we navigated through much needed regulatory reforms and the market disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic”.
"His dedication to the work of the commission and the division will have a lasting impact for years to come, and I thank him for his counsel to me and his many years of public service to the commission,” Blass notes.
Cellupica explains: “I have been fortunate to have worked with such a talented group of colleagues, both in investment management and throughout the commission, during such a productive and transformative period in investment management regulation."
He adds: "I am grateful to director Blass for the opportunity of a lifetime to return to the SEC, and I am extraordinarily proud of what the division and the office of the chief counsel have been able to accomplish, working as a team, on behalf of investors."
