Speaker Biographies

Barry Barbash is a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP. He serves as the head of the firm’s Asset Management Group and is a member of the firm’s Executive Committee. His practice involves advising financial services company clients on a wide range of transactions and regulatory matters, including those pertaining to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Among his areas of expertise are mutual and closed-end SEC-registered fund operations and regulation, hedge fund formation and regulation, private equity fund structuring and financing, venture capital fund operations and offerings, fund governance, mergers and acquisitions in the investment management industry, and investment management distribution and marketing matters. From 1993 to 1998, Barbash served as the director of the SEC Division of Investment Management, where he had principal oversight responsibility for the U.S. mutual fund industry, U.S. and non-U.S. investment managers, and U.S.-based or sponsored private funds.

Mercer Bullard is an assistant professor of law at the University of Mississippi School of Law, where he teaches courses on securities, banking, corporations, and corporate finance law. He is the founder and president of Fund Democracy, an advocacy group for mutual fund shareholders. Bullard has testified before House, Senate, Department of Labor, and State committees on a variety of regulatory issues on topics such as mutual funds, 529 plans, and 401(k) plans. He has appeared on NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, CBS Evening News, CNBC, CNN, Wall Street Week, and The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, and has been featured in Business Week, Money Magazine, and other publications. He has also been quoted in most major newspapers and financial publications on securities-related matters. He was named by Investment News as one of the most powerful voices in the financial services industry in 2001, by a mutual fund trade publication as one of four “Fund Titans” for 2003, and by Registered Rep. magazine as one of “Ten to Watch” for 2004. Bullard was formerly an assistant chief counsel at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mary Bush is the founder and president of Bush International, which advises corporate and governmental clients on international financial markets and business development strategies. She is a member of the boards of Discover Financial Services, UAL Corporation, ManTech International, Briggs and Stratton, Brady Corporation, and the Pioneer Family of Mutual Funds. Appointed by President George W. Bush, she is chairman of the Helping to Enhance the Livelihood of People (HELP) Commission, a Congressionally chartered commission whose goal is to improve the effectiveness of U.S. foreign aid. Previously, she served as the head of the International Finance Department at Fannie Mae and as a banker with Bankers Trust and Citibank. Her public sector experience includes past positions as the U.S. government’s representative on the International Monetary Fund board, as the head of the Federal Home Loan Bank System, and as a board member of Sallie Mae.

Paul Stevens has been president and CEO of the Investment Company Institute (ICI), the national association of U.S. investment companies, since 2004. He is also a director of the ICI Mutual Insurance Company. From 1993 to 1997, he was general counsel of ICI. Outside ICI, Stevens's career has included varied roles in private law practice, corporate counsel, and government service. He has worked as a partner and leader of the financial services practice at Dechert LLP and has been the chief counsel for mutual funds and international enterprise at Charles Schwab & Co. Between 1985 and 1989, Mr. Stevens served as special assistant for national security affairs to President Reagan, as executive secretary and legal adviser of the National Security Council, and in other senior positions at the White House and the Pentagon. Upon leaving government service, he was awarded the Department of Defense (DOD) Medal for Distinguished Public Service, DOD’s highest civilian decoration.

Peter J. Wallison joined AEI in January 1999, is currently a senior fellow and co-director of AEI’s program on financial market deregulation, and holds the Arthur F. Burns Chair in Financial Market Studies. He previously practiced banking, corporate, and financial law at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Washington, D.C., and New York. From June 1981 to January 1985, Mr. Wallison was general counsel of the United States Treasury Department, where he had a significant role in the development of the Reagan administration’s proposals for deregulation in the financial services industry. He also served as general counsel to the Depository Institutions Deregulation Committee and participated in the Treasury Department’s efforts to deal with the debt held by less-developed countries. During 1986 and 1987, Mr. Wallison was White House counsel to President Ronald Reagan. Between 1972 and 1976, Mr. Wallison served first as special assistant to Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller and, subsequently, as counsel to Mr. Rockefeller when he was vice president of the United States.

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