Former Congressman Bill Gradison has been named acting chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.
Gradison, an inaugural board member of the PCAOB, was named to the position by the Securities and Exchange Commission. He will replace Chairman William J. McDonough, who stepped down on Nov. 30.
"I sought a seat on this board three years ago because I knew from my own experience in the financial services field how important it is to protect investors by assuring that financial reporting is accurate and reliable," Gradison said in a statement. "My perspective on the board may be unique because during my years in business I worked not on Wall Street or K Street, but on Main Street ... primarily with small investors and smaller corporate pension funds."
A former representative from Ohio, Gradison spent 18 years in Congress and was a ranking member of the House Budget Committee and the Health Subcommittee of the Committee on Ways and Means.
While in Congress, he served as vice chairman of the U.S. Bipartisan Commission on Comprehensive Health Care (the Pepper Commission). He was also a member of the Pew Health Professions Commission, as well as the Commonwealth Fund's Commission on Women's Health. He also served as vice chair of the Commonwealth Fund's Task Force on Academic Health Centers. After leaving Congress, he served as president of the Health Insurance Association of America for six years.
In October 2002, Gradison was appointed by the SEC to a two-year term as a founding member of the PCAOB. He was unanimously reappointed to serve an additional term of five years in August 2004. Prior to being named to the PCAOB, Gradison had been senior public policy counselor with Patton Boggs since 1999.
Gradison holds an M.B.A. and a doctorate from Harvard Business School and was a member of the Cincinnati City Council for 13 years, including serving as the city's mayor in 1971.
SEC Chairman Christopher Cox also recently announced new procedures for filling slots on the five-member PCAOB, aimed at creating better transparency for the process in a timely manner. Each SEC commissioner will be allowed to suggest up to three candidates whenever there is a vacancy to fill. Commissioners will then be given the nominees' names and have five business days to notify Cox of any objections. An objection to any nominee from the majority will lead to a candidate's elimination from consideration. Candidates surviving the first round may then be then be nominated as finalists.
