Kara M. Stein

Kara M. Stein was appointed as Board Member of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board by the Securities and Exchange Commission in November 2021 and sworn in on November 18, 2021. Her current term expires on October 24, 2026.

Prior to joining the Board, Board Member Stein served as a Distinguished Policy Fellow and Lecturer-in-Law at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School and was Director of the AI, Data, and Capital Markets Initiative at the Center on Innovation, University of California Hastings Law.

From 2013 to 2019, Board Member Stein was a Commissioner of the SEC. There, she was a forceful advocate for addressing the impact of digital transformation on both companies and the agency itself, identifying ways to enhance our securities market structure to promote efficiency and resiliency, updating SEC rules to put investors first, holding both companies and individuals to account for violations of the federal securities laws, and advancing initiatives to further increase competition and facilitate capital formation in our markets.

Earlier in her career, Board Member Stein was Senior Policy Advisor for securities and banking matters for U.S. Senator Jack Reed and Majority Staff Director of the Securities, Insurance, and Investment Subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. She holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and a B.A. from Yale College.