Susan Ferris Wyderko, a Securities and Exchange Commission official who has held many senior positions at the commission, will leave later this month to become executive director of the Independent Mutual Fund Directors Forum, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving mutual fund governance.
The SEC announced Wyderko's impending departure and plans yesterday. She currently is director of the SEC's Office of Investor Education and Assistance, a position she has held since 2000. She also was acting director of the SEC's Investment Management Division from January to May of this year. In addition, she has served as director of the Office of Legislative Affairs, acting director of the Office of Public Affairs and counsel to former SEC chairman Arthur Levitt.
Wyderko joined the SEC in 1985 as a staff attorney in the Office of General Counsel and also worked in the trial unit of the enforcement division. She received the commission's Distinguished Service Award in 2005 for her exceptionally creative approach to investor education, according to the commission. She also is a recipient of the SEC's Stanley Sporkin Award, which recognizes those who have made "exceptionally tenacious and insightful contributions" to the enforcement of the federal securities laws.
She received the Federal Bar Association's Manuel F. Cohen Younger Lawyer Award in recognition of her "maturity of judgment, tenacity and creativity in resolving complex legal matters." Additionally, she was a recipient of the commission's Law and Policy Award on three separate occasions.
"America's investors have been well and truly served by Ms. Wyderko," SEC chairman Christopher Cox said yesterday. "She has been a forceful advocate for better disclosure in every position that she has held within the agency. She has evidenced a total commitment to the mission of the SEC, and has done her work with great enthusiasm and uncompromising principles."
Wyderko began her legal career as an associate at the law firm of Miller & Chevalier, and is a graduate of Wellesley College and Cornell Law School.
