Robert J. Jackson Jr. served as Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) from January 11, 2018 until February 14, 2020. Commissioner Jackson was appointed by President Donald Trump. Commissioner Jackson has extensive experience as a legal scholar, policy professional, and corporate lawyer. He was an outspoken advocate for protecting investors, consistently calling for more transparency in capital markets and championing evidence-driven policymaking.

Robert J. Jackson Jr. is an American lawyer and academic. He currently serves as a professor of law at New York University School of Law. Jackson’s research emphasizes the empirical study of executive compensation and corporate governance matters.

The only Commissioner to teach at the SEC’s in-house University, Jackson joined the SEC from NYU School of Law, where he was a Professor of Law. Previously, he was on the faculty of the Columbia Law School. Before that, Jackson served as a senior policy advisor at the U.S. Treasury Department, working with Kenneth Feinberg, the Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation, to develop policies to give shareholders a say on pay and encourage TARP recipients to more closely tie pay to performance. Earlier in his career, Commissioner Jackson practiced law at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.

Robert J. Jackson Jr. holds two bachelor’s degrees (one in finance, another in philosophy) from the University of Pennsylvania; an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of Business; a master’s degree from Harvard’s Kennedy School; and a law degree from Harvard Law School. He married his wife, Bryana, while serving on the Commission. He was born in the Bronx, New York, and is a lifelong Yankees fan.