Elizabeth Murphy became secretary at the Securities and Exchange Commission in December 2008. She was previously the head of the Office of Rulemaking in SEC’s division of corporation finance. As secretary of the commission, Murphy is responsible for the procedural administration of commission meetings, rulemaking, practice, and procedure. She also reviews all SEC documents submitted by the staff to the commission, including rulemaking releases, SEC enforcement orders and litigation releases, and actions taken by SEC staff pursuant to delegated authority.
In addition, Murphy receives and tracks documents filed in administrative proceedings, requests for confidential treatment, and comment letters on rule proposals. The office is responsible for publishing official documents and releases of commission actions in the federal register and the SEC docket, as well as monitoring compliance with the Government in the Sunshine Act.
In her past role as chief of the Office of Rulemaking, Murphy prepared rules and interpretive guidance on behalf of the division. Murphy joined the division of corporation finance in 1986 as an attorney adviser, and in 1987 was promoted to the position of special counsel. She was made a special counsel in the Office of the Chief Counsel in 1996, and later served as counsel to Commissioner Laura S. Unger.
Murphy graduated in 1982 with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia, and received her law degree from the University of Notre Dame Law School in 1985.