Speaker biographies

Martin Lybecker has been a partner at WilmerHale since 2002, where he works in the regulatory and government affairs and securities departments and is a member of the financial institutions and investment management practice groups. In private practice since 1981, Mr. Lybecker is considered to be a leader in the development of legal theories with regard to the substantial growth of bank securities activities. He also has considerable experience representing the insurance industry in disputes over the authority of banks to engage in insurance underwriting. Mr. Lybecker serves as counsel to investment companies and their independent directors, investment advisers, broker-dealers, depository institutions and their holding companies, insurance companies, and several financial services trade associations. From 1978 to 1981, Mr. Lybecker served as associate director of the division of investment management at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and previously served as a lawyer in the division’s office of chief counsel. Mr. Lybecker has taught law at Georgetown University, the State University of New York at Buffalo, Duke University, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and since 2000, he has been a senior lecturing fellow in law at Duke University. He is an active speaker on topics of interest to the financial services industry and is a member of numerous professional organizations, including the American Bar Association, where he has chaired several committees. In addition, he is a member of the American Law Institute and the editorial advisory board of The Investment Lawyer.

Michael Ryan is the president, chief operating officer, and a member of the board of directors at Proxy Governance, Inc., an independent proxy advisory and voting company. Mr. Ryan has had a long career in capital markets compliance and policy. Previously, he served as senior vice president and executive director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Center for Capital Markets Competitiveness and as executive director of the U.S. Chamber’s bipartisan and independent Commission on the Regulation of U.S. Capital Markets in the 21st Century. Mr. Ryan has also served as executive vice president, general counsel, and a member of the office of the chairman at the American Stock Exchange, and he was counsel to the chairman of the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc. Mr. Ryan has also worked for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the divisions of market regulation and corporation finance and as a senior accountant with Price Waterhouse & Co.

Heidi M. Schooner joined the faculty of the Columbus School of Law at the Catholic University of America in 1993. Ms. Schooner has visited on the law faculties at Suffolk University and the George Washington University. As a practicing lawyer, Ms. Schooner was acting general counsel of First American Metro Corp., a bank holding company. She also practiced in the general counsel’s office at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and as an associate with a private law firm. Ms. Schooner has published numerous articles exploring the regulation of financial institutions. Her scholarship addresses issues ranging from the specific examination of the enforcement powers of bank regulators to broad scrutiny of efforts to modernize bank regulatory regimes. Ms. Schooner teaches banking, corporations, contracts, and commercial law.

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, Mr. 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 Ronald 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 Medal for Distinguished Public Service, the department’s highest civilian decoration.

Peter J. Wallison holds the Arthur F. Burns Chair in Financial Policy Studies at AEI, where he codirects the Institute’s program on financial market deregulation. 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 U.S. 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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