When President Donald Trump asked me to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, my mandate was clear: restore clarity, integrity, and trust to an agency that had lost sight of its core mission. One year later, we are delivering on that mission, and the most important work still lies ahead. 

I inherited an agency that had drifted — deliberately and consequentially — from Congress‘s original intent. The division charged with preventing fraud and protecting investors had reoriented itself around generating media headlines rather than generating safer markets. Regulators sacrificed clear guidance for unchecked discretion, and political ambition replaced investor protection and capital formation.