Photo by Audra Melton

Every day, in her role as the director of the Atlanta Regional Office of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Nekia Hackworth Jones (MBA 2004) stands in the breach between the $100 trillion in securities traded on U.S. equity markets and the bad actors who would break the public’s trust in those markets and potentially crash the economy. “We really want to protect the people who interact with, and rely on, the markets,” says Jones. “If people couldn’t trust how the markets work, then we’d be in a tough space.”

Jones and her staff in the SEC’s Atlanta office manage the enforcement, examinations, and business operations for five states: Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Alabama. Along with SEC headquarters in Washington, D.C., and 10 other regional offices, they are responsible for monitoring the securities markets and the approximately 28,000 registered entities and individuals that interact with those markets, to make sure they’re complying with federal securities laws.

Beyond regulating the region’s financial industry, Jones and her team are engaged with educating the public to increase financial literacy. “It’s a huge part of what we do every day,” she says. “We have a critical mass of Americans—around 60 million—who don’t even actively use a bank account. So, in addition to monitoring and regulating these sophisticated entities and markets, we try to educate people about the basic principles of personal financial management, so they understand all the tools available to them in securing a strong financial future. Then, once they’re ready to invest or borrow or raise capital, they will trust the markets are working as they should. It’s like two covers of a big book.”

That continued faith in the markets is what drives Jones. “It’s what I hope my impact will be,” she says. “The market crash in the 1920s, the recession in 2008—we know what can happen when people lose faith in the markets. That’s why we’re all here working really hard to earn—and to keep—the public’s trust.”

Support the next generation of leaders Make a gift now

Post a Comment