New PCAOB chair named

Catalyst (Dublin, Ohio), July-August, 2006

Federal Reserve Board Governor Mark W. Olson has been named as the new chair of the five-member Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) for a term running until 2010.

SEC Chair Christopher Cox said that Olson's experience as a central banker, his background in securities law, his expertise as a partner at Ernst & Young LLP and his time as a bank president, made him the ideal candidate for the role.

Olson, 63, joined the Federal Reserve in December 2001. In addition to his policy-making duties as a governor, has served as the administrative governor since August 2002, a role where he was responsible for the management of the Federal Reserve Board.

Acting PCAOB chair William Gradison, a former nine-term Republican congressman from Ohio, will remain a member of the board.

This article ran in the Ohio e-CPA Weekly on June 23.