
Arthur Levitt
Economic Outlook, Economy / Economics, Finance
Travels from Connecticut, USA
Arthur Levitt's speaking fee falls
within range:
$25,000 to $30,000

Have you seen Arthur speak? Leave a review.
Arthur Levitt Profile
Appointed by President Bill Clinton, Arthur Levitt served as the 25th and longest serving Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. During his tenure there, he battled with some of the most powerful executives in corporate America in an attempt to reform the way in which they presented their financial data to Wall Street and, ultimately, the stock–market investing public.
Working his way up in a cut-throat high-stakes market to become president of the brokerage firm Carter, Berlind & Weill, Mr. Levitt became increasingly uncomfortable with what he viewed as the deteriorating ethical state of the financial industry or in his words “practices and attitudes that were misleading and sometimes deceptive.” He left the firm to take over the failing American Stock Exchange (AMEX), and during his eleven-year tenure turned it around in part by modernizing its operations and trading floor.
In 1993 Levitt accepted the post of SEC chairman from President Bill Clinton, and quickly went to work putting through reforms that helped the average investor better understand the market. He forced mutual–fund companies to issue prospectuses in plain English, for example, and instituted new rules for the municipal bond market. He also went after the National Association of Securities Dealers, and forced it to institute new rules in response to charges of price–fixing on its NASDAQ trading floor. Levitt pursued several more reforms that would have made it harder for corporations to commit accounting or auditing fraud, but his proposals were blocked by members of Congress, who were recipients of donations from firms that would have been affected by Levitt’s reforms.
Eight months after closing his history-making 8-year-tenure at the SEC, the failure of ENRON and its accounting/auditor scandal made headlines. This brought heightened relevance to Levitt’s book Take on the Street which came out a few months later and addressed the political-corporate corruption that was enabling such fraud in corporate America.
Levitt has gone on to advise several corporations. A speaker and consultant whose opinion is frequently featured in media outlets like Fortune. Forbes, and Bloomberg, he continues to push financial literacy and transparency within the financial services industry.
- View Extended/Alternate Bio
- Arthur Levitt served as the 25th Chairman of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the regulatory agency that oversees many aspects of the stock market. First appointed by President Clinton in July 1993, the President reappointed Chairman Levitt to a second five-year term in May 1998. On September 9, 1999, he became the longest serving Chairman of the Commission. He left the Commission on February 9, 2001.
Coming from a background of 28 years on Wall Street as a broker and chairman of the American Stock Exchange, Arthur Levitt joined the SEC as the bull market of the 1990s was getting underway and would remain through the bust of the technology stock bubble, leaving the agency shortly before the accounting scandals of Enron, WorldCom, et al exploded into the public eye – just the sort of accounting deception he had fought to prevent during his years at the SEC.
During his career as head of the SEC, investor protection was Chairman Levitt’s top priority. Throughout his tenure at the Commission, he worked to educate, empower, and protect America’s investors.
Early in his tenure, Chairman Levitt created the Office of Investor Education and Assistance and established a website which allows the public free and easy access to corporate filings and investor education materials. In the past seven years Chairman Levitt has conducted more than forty investor town meetings throughout the country to listen to the concerns of investors and to give them tips on safe and wise participation in the securities markets.
Other hallmarks of Chairman Levitt’s tenure include improving the quality of the financial reporting process, maintaining the independence of auditors, saving investors billions of dollars by reducing spreads in the Nasdaq market, promoting the use of plain English, requiring that important information be released to all investors simultaneously, fighting Internet fraud, and cleaning up the municipal bond market.
Before joining the Commission, Arthur Levitt owned Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Capitol Hill. From 1989 to 1993, he served as the chairperson of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, and from 1978 to 1989 he was the chairperson of the American Stock Exchange (Amex). Prior to joining the Amex, Arthur Levitt worked for 16 years on Wall Street. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Williams College in 1952 before serving for two years in the Air Force.
After leaving the SEC, Arthur Levitt accepted a position as senior advisor to The Carlyle Group. He is on the board of Bloomberg LLP as well as a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Arthur Levitt’s book, Take on the Street, was released in October 2002 and quickly appeared on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Business Week’s bestseller lists. Take on the Street is a memoir of Arthur Levitt’s years at the SEC and an argument for his philosophy of investor-friendly regulation, as well as a how-to guide for small investors.
Arthur Levitt Speaking Videos
Bring Arthur Levitt to Speak Live at Your Event

Have You Seen this Speaker? Leave a Star Rating.