Jay Clayton Jay Clayton

Senior Policy Advisor and Of Counsel, Sullivan & Cromwell; Former Chair, Securities and Exchange Commission; Chairman, Apollo Global Management

Jay Clayton served as the Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from May 2017 to December 2020.

In addition to his board service and teaching responsibilities, Mr. Clayton advises various organizations and individuals on public policy, legal, regulatory and governance matters.
As Chairman of the SEC, Mr. Clayton focused on modernizing the regulation and oversight of our equity and fixed income markets, concentrating on the interests of long-term investors. Under his leadership, the SEC updated and improved dozens of rules and regulations, many that had not been revised in decades. The SEC also addressed various market developments and emerging risks, including the digitization of assets and financial transactions, the COVID-19 economic shock, the Brexit and LIBOR transitions, and various cybersecurity matters. Mr. Clayton testified before Senate and House Committees on various occasions and regularly met and corresponded with members of the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees. He was an active member of the Financial Stability Board, the International Organization of Securities Commissions, the Financial Stability Oversight Council and the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets.

Prior to Mr. Clayton’s time at the SEC, he was a member of Sullivan & Cromwell’s management committee, co-managing partner of its General Practice Group and co-head of its Cybersecurity Group. He was a lead lawyer in an array of complex M&A and capital markets transactions, as well as regulatory and governance matters, in the financial, telecoms, energy, transportation and e-commerce sectors. Mr. Clayton also advised a number of individuals and families in connection with their public and private investments and succession planning matters.
Mr. Clayton earned a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degree in economics from The University of Cambridge and a Juris Doctor degree from The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School.

Related Sessions

View full schedule