The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced the agenda and panelists for the 2019 Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation.  The August 14 event will be hosted in partnership with the Heider College of Business at Creighton University and will be held in the Hixon-Lied Auditorium of the Mike and Josie Harper Center on the university’s campus in Omaha, Nebraska.  It will begin at 9:00 a.m. CT/10:00 a.m. ET and will be open to the public.  The full agenda and bios of panelists are available on the Forum webpage.

The Forum provides a platform to discuss small business capital formation, culminating in the identification of issues and formulation of recommendations for government and private action to improve the environment for small businesses.

The first panel will explore “Capital Formation Success Stories from the Silicon Prairie” and will feature representatives from local companies, investors, and advisors to the small business community.  The second panel is titled “Harmonization, What a Concept!  Exploring Options to Reshape the Offering Framework.”  This panel will delve into the Commission’s Harmonization Concept Release, which requests public comment on ways to simplify, harmonize, and improve the exempt offering framework. 

Following the morning panel discussions, attendees will work in groups to identify capital raising issues faced by small businesses and their investors.  These breakout groups will also formulate specific securities policy recommendations that provide strategic guidance on areas for future action.

The Forum’s morning panels will be webcast live on SEC.gov.  The afternoon breakout session will be accessible by phone or web conference for those not attending the Forum in person.  Anyone wishing to participate in a breakout session in person, by teleconference or web conference must register online by August 9.

Members of the public are invited to suggest topics to be discussed at the Forum by contacting The SEC’s Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation at Events_OASB@sec.gov.

The day preceding the Forum, the SEC’s Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee will host its second meeting since its formation in Omaha at Creighton University.  Following the Forum, the SEC’s Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation Martha Legg Miller will provide remarks to entrepreneurs as a featured speaker at the Maha Discovery Conference in Omaha on August 15.