29 Apr SEC Small Business Advisory Committee Meets Wednesday

The Securities and Exchange Commission’s advisory committee on small and emerging companies is holding its next open meeting this Wednesday, May 1, 2013. Speakers include the CEO of Nasdaq, the CEO of WR Hambrecht & Co and the CEO and the NYSE Euronext. An august assemblage for sure! Topics that are announced include capital formation, securities trading, and research and offering communications. That’s a pretty wide set of topics!

The last set of the committee’s recommendations, on “tick size” spreads, was released in February. Maybe we will see some more recommendations following this gathering. If you want to go, it is open to the public, or you can watch the webcast (starting at 9:30 am Eastern) at www.sec.gov.

Advisory committees and task forces in Washington are often criticized as ways to kick issues down the road while they are studied. But the last SEC advisory committee on smaller companies, which finished its work back in 2006, led to some real positive rule changes a few years later. So let’s hope there comes a moment in the near future when new SEC Chairman Mary Joe White and her team want to find ways to help small businesses attract capital and grow, and takes guidance from this distinguished group of advisors.