The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority announced Monday that Robert Cook, former director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Division of Trading & Markets, has been named by FINRA's Board as the self-regulator's new president and CEO, replacing Richard Ketchum.
Cook's new position will become effective in the second half of 2016, according to a FINRA spokersperson. He will join FINRA from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, where he has served as a partner in the firm's Washington, DC, office since June 2013. While at Cleary Gottlieb, Cook has focused on the regulation of securities markets and market intermediaries, including broker-dealers, exchanges, alternative trading systems and clearing agencies.
FINRA said that its Board intends to name a new chairman in the coming months.
Recommended For You
"Having known and worked alongside Robert for several years, I know that he brings extensive expertise as one of the leading practitioners on broker-dealer and market regulation, as well as proven regulatory and leadership experience," said Ketchum, who stated at FINRA's annual conference in late May that his successor would likely be named in June. "Robert's appointment is the result of the Board's careful and thorough search process to identify the right leader to carry on FINRA's important role of educating and protecting investors in the years ahead. It has been my honor and privilege to lead this extraordinary organization."
Cook noted in the same statement that he looks "forward to building on Rick's many years of excellent work and collaborating with FINRA's Board, members and other stakeholders to strengthen investor protections, promote market integrity and enhance FINRA's core competencies of examinations, enforcement, rulemaking, market transparency and market surveillance."
While serving as head of trading and markets at the SEC from 2010 to 2013, Cook also directed the staff's review of equity market structure and its analysis of the Flash Crash of May 6, 2010. Prior to joining the SEC, Cook served as a partner at Cleary Gottlieb since 2001, and joined the firm in 1992.
During his years of private practice, Cook worked extensively on broker-dealer regulatory matters, advising large and small firms on a wide range of compliance questions.
He graduated magna cum laude with an A.B. in Social Studies in 1988 from Harvard College, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his Master of Science with distinction in Industrial Relations and Personnel Management from the London School of Economics in 1989, and received his J.D. cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1992.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Melanie Waddell
Melanie is senior editor and Washington bureau chief of ThinkAdvisor. Her ThinkAdvisor coverage zeros in on how politics, policy, legislation and regulations affect the investment advisory space. Melanie’s coverage has been cited in various lawmakers’ reports, letters and bills, and in the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule in 2024. In 2019, Melanie received an Honorable Mention, Range of Work by a Single Author award from @Folio. Melanie joined Investment Advisor magazine as New York bureau chief in 2000. She has been a columnist since 2002. She started her career in Washington in 1994, covering financial issues at American Banker. Since 1997, Melanie has been covering investment-related issues, holding senior editorial positions at American Banker publications in both Washington and New York. Briefly, she was content chief for Internet Capital Group’s EFinancialWorld in New York and wrote freelance articles for Institutional Investor. Melanie holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Towson University. She interned at The Baltimore Sun and its suburban edition.
