Board Announces Deputy Directors in Enforcement and Investigations

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board announced today that Kyra Armstrong, Ray Hamm and Jerry Decker have been named deputy directors in the Board’s Division of Enforcement and Investigations.  

Ms. Armstrong, an attorney, and Mr. Hamm, an accountant, previously served as Associate Directors in the Division. In their new positions, their primary responsibilities will relate to the supervision of investigations. Mr. Decker, an attorney, will join the Division with the additional title of Chief Trial Counsel, and his primary responsibilities will relate to litigation stemming from the Division’s disciplinary proceedings.

“Each of these individuals will bring strong skills and experience to their new roles as deputy directors,” said Claudius Modesti, Director of the PCAOB’s Division of Enforcement and Investigations.  “Kyra and Ray have already demonstrated the fairness and rigor that the Board expects in PCAOB investigations. Jerry comes to the PCAOB with an excellent track record in trial work for the Securities and Exchange Commission. I am confident that they will excel in fulfilling their duties on behalf of the PCAOB and investors.”

Prior to joining the PCAOB in August 2003, Ms. Armstrong, 38, served as Director of the Office of Regulation Policy in NASD’s Department of Member Regulation. Before joining NASD, Ms. Armstrong spent six years with the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement where she performed and supervised investigations into possible violations of the federal securities laws.  Ms. Armstrong also worked as an associate at the law firm of Howrey and Simon in Washington, D.C. 

Ms. Armstrong received her A.B. cum laude from Harvard College and her J.D. from Harvard Law School.

Prior to joining the PCAOB in December 2003, Mr. Hamm, 42, was a senior manager at FTI Ten Eyck, an accounting firm specializing in advice and assistance related to SEC accounting, disclosure and enforcement policies, procedures, and practices.   Previously, he was an Associate Chief Accountant in the Division of Enforcement at the SEC.   Before joining the SEC staff in 1996, Mr. Hamm worked at two major international public accounting firms.

Mr. Hamm earned a B.S. degree in Business Administration from the State University of New York at Buffalo.  He is a certified public accountant in Arizona.

Prior to joining the PCAOB this month, Mr. Decker, 40, served as Senior Trial Counsel in the Division of Enforcement in the Chicago office of the SEC where he prosecuted financial fraud, insider trading and registration violation cases.  Before joining the SEC in 2004, Mr. Decker practiced securities litigation at the law firm of Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen, LLP in Philadelphia.

Mr. Decker earned a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School and a B.A. from the College of William & Mary.