Lori A. Richards served in roles of increasing responsibility at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for over 24 years, from 1985 to 2009. She joined the SEC as a staff attorney in Enforcement in the Los Angeles Regional Office, and there held positions of increasing responsibility, up through Associate Director for Enforcement. She then moved to the home office in 1994 to become Chairman Arthur Levitt’s Executive Assistant/Chief of Staff. Following that, she was asked to take on the role of Director of the newly created Office of Compliance, Inspections, and Examinations (OCIE), encompassing the SEC’s nationwide examination functions.She spent the next 14 years leading OCIE before leaving for private practice in 2009.