Cox, Christopher

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Cox, Christopher

On August 3, 2005, Christopher Cox was sworn in as the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission after a unanimous confirmation vote by the U.S. Senate. Cox was born October 16, 1952, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Southern California in 1973, after completing a three-year accelerated course.

In 1976, Cox graduated simultaneously from Harvard Business School and the Harvard Law School, with honors, where for two years he served as an Editor of the Harvard Law Review. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Southern California in 1973, after completing a three-year accelerated course.

Cox, along with his father, a retired publisher, founded a company that provided a complete English translation of the former Soviet Union's leading daily paper, Pravda. From 1978 to 1986, he specialized in venture capital and corporate finance with the international law firm of Latham and Watkins, where he was the partner in charge of the Corporate Department in Orange County and a member of the firm's national management. In 1982–83, Rep. Cox took a leave of absence from Latham and Watkins to teach federal income tax at Harvard Business School. In 1977 to 1978, he was law clerk to U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Herbert Choy, the first Asian-American federal appellate judge in America.

Each year since he was first elected, he has earned the prestigious "Golden Bulldog Award" from the Watchdogs of the Treasury for his consistent votes to stop runaway government spending. He has regularly been named a "Hero to the Taxpayer" by the 500,000-member grassroots lobbying group Citizens Against Government Waste. In addition, the National Taxpayers Union has consistently honored him with the "Taxpayer's Friend Award" for his work to promote free enterprise and limit the scope of government; the National Federation of Independent Business has each year given him the "Friend of Small Business" Award; and the citizen watchdog group Consumer Alert has twice presented him with their "Friend of the Consumer" Award, most recently in 1996, when this exclusive honor was conferred on a total of only 26 members in both the House and Senate.

Cox served on several committees in the House of Representatives, holding positions as Chairman of the House Policy Committee, Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security; Chairman of the Select Committee on U.S. National Security; Chairman of the Select Committee on Homeland Security (the predecessor to the permanent House Committee); Chairman of the Task Force on Capital Markets; and Chairman of the Task Force on Budget Process Reform.

As SEC chairman, he has emphasized securities law enforcement and providing investors with comprehensible information minus confusing jargon. At his swearing in, he commented that "It is an honor to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, and to be sworn in by so wise and able a champion of America's capital markets," referring to outgoing chairman Alan Greenspan.