The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Erin E. Schneider has been named the Associate Regional Director for enforcement in the San Francisco office.

Ms. Schneider began working in the San Francisco office in 2005 as a staff attorney and became an Assistant Regional Director in 2012.  She has served as a member of the Division of Enforcement’s Asset Management Unit since its inception in 2010.  In her new role, Ms. Schneider will oversee the San Francisco office’s enforcement efforts for northern California and the Pacific Northwest.

“Erin is a savvy, accomplished, and dedicated investigator and manager,” said Andrew J. Ceresney, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.  “I am pleased that she will continue her distinguished record of service in this new role in San Francisco.”

Jina L. Choi, Director of the San Francisco Regional Office, added, “Erin is an outstanding lawyer who has been instrumental in the success of the San Francisco office.  Her judgment, critical thinking, and work ethic are widely respected throughout the office.  She is going to do an excellent job leading our talented enforcement staff.”

Ms. Schneider said, “It has been a great privilege to work alongside so many talented, creative, and hardworking investigative and trial attorneys for the past 10 years.  I am honored by this appointment and look forward to continuing the San Francisco office’s strong tradition of tough but fair enforcement in complex and cutting-edge cases as well as its effective collaboration between examination and enforcement staff.”

Ms. Schneider has investigated and litigated significant enforcement actions involving a variety of securities law violations.  Some examples include:

• An accounting fraud case against a Silicon Valley company that included the return of $2.5 million in CEO bonuses and stock profits under the clawback provision.
• An enforcement action against a Bay Area hedge fund manager for misappropriating millions of dollars in side-pocketed assets.
• Charges against private investment fund managers and others stemming from an investigation of secondary market trading in pre-IPO companies.
• A jury trial in San Jose, Calif., that found a Silicon Valley CFO liable for a fraudulent stock option backdating scheme.

Prior to joining the SEC staff, Ms. Schneider worked as a litigation associate in the Washington D.C. and San Francisco offices of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, and as an auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.  Ms. Schneider earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of California at Berkeley in 1995, and her law degree cum laude from the University of California’s Hastings College of the Law in 2001.