Ex-AARP Lobbyist Named New SEC Investor Advocate

The Securities and Exchange Commission has tapped former AARP lobbyist Cristina Martin Firvida as its new director of the Office of the Investor Advocate, effective Tuesday.

Martin Firvida most recently served as the vice president of Financial Security and Livable Communities for Government Affairs at AARP.

Rick Fleming, the SEC’s first investor advocate, left the agency in July. Fleming was appointed in February 2014 as director of the Office of the Investor Advocate.

As the investor advocate, Martin Firvida heads an office that assists retail investors in interactions with the commission and with self-regulatory organizations, “analyzing the impact on investors of proposed rules and regulations, identifying problems that investors have with financial service providers and investment products, and proposing legislative or regulatory changes.”

Martin Firvida said in a statement that investor protection “is core to the SEC’s mission, and Congress reaffirmed that commitment by ensuring that the agency has an office exclusively dedicated to representing the needs of investors. I look forward to working closely with my new colleagues to serve investors in America’s capital markets.”