[ by Howard Haykin ] Nepotism is not a hindrance to a successful SEC career. The SEC announced Thursday that it had named a municipal securities expert to lead the Agency's new Municipal Securities Division.  That individual coincidentally happens to be married to the Director of the SEC Corporate Finance Division. The new Municipal Securities Division was previously part of the Division of Trading and Markets - but was created because Dodd-Frank called for a stand-alone office that reports directly to the Chairman and administers Commission rules regarding advisors, issuers, broker-dealer practices, and investors in the municipal securities market.  The office also will coordinate with the MSRB. Background of Mr. John Cross. Mr. Cross, who's expected to begin in September, has a broad range of experience with municipal finance transactions in nearly every state, including experience with some of largest and most complex municipal financings ever undertaken.  Mr. Cross has been a leader in the public policy area affecting municipal finance. For the past several years, he has been serving as the Associate Tax Legislative Counsel in the Office of Tax Policy at the U.S. Treasury Department, where he has had significant responsibility for legislative, regulatory and budgetary tax matters affecting municipal bonds. Mr. Cross led the agency’s implementation of the municipal bond provisions of the 2009 Recovery Act, which included public guidance on Build America Bonds and other targeted municipal bond programs.  He also played a significant role in the Treasury Department’s efforts to address municipal bond market challenges in the 2008 financial crisis.

“John’s experience makes him perfectly suited to head this office.  He has a full appreciation for the importance of municipal securities and the expectations of investors in those markets.” -- Mary Schapiro, SEC Chairman.

Prior to working at the Treasury Department, Mr. Cross was a partner at national municipal bond specialty law firm Hawkins Delafield & Wood LLP from 1994 to 2006.  He previously served as a counsel at the IRS in the Financial Institutions and Products division, where his work involved derivative financial products that were used with municipal bonds. Mr. Cross received his B.A. from Brown in 1978, a J.D. from Vanderbilt School of Law in 1981, where he was a member of the Law Review, and a Masters of Laws in Taxation from Georgetown Law Center in 1988. He is married to Meredith Cross, who is Director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance. Mr. Cross is expected to begin in his new role in September. For further details, go to:   [SEC PR 12=149, 8/2/12].