Going Public: My Adventures Inside the SEC and How to Prevent the Next Devastating Crisis

CHAPTER9

REPORT CARD

Begin—to begin is half the work, let half still remain; again begin this, and thou wilt have finished.

—Marcus Aurelius

On March 6, 2014, I attended a conference at the Practicing Law Institute in New York. I was sitting in the faculty room right off the main conference room at a rectangular table with pitchers of ice water, waiting in the wings for my turn to speak. As IM director I had to speak about once a month at various industry events, which I always enjoyed. Five years earlier I spoke at a PLI conference and had my fateful lunch with Tom Biolsi. Tom died in 2013 at age 57 from cancer, and I always thought of him when I found myself at PLI (although now in a different location). Then Paul Roye, an old lawyer friend ...