A mutual fund veteran who’s also worked with nearly every government agency that regulates the industry was chosen to take over the top job at the Investment Company Institute.

Yesterday the Institute’s Board of Governors elected Paul Schott Stevens to succeed Matthew P. Fink as ICI president. Stevens, who currently serves as outside counsel to the Institute, will take over the presidency in June 2004.

Paul Schott Stevens

Fink reached retirement age several years ago, but postponed retirement for two years at the request of the ICI board. In May of last year, he notified the board that he would retire in 2004, and in September board members organized a succession committee.

Details of the search were not disclosed, but the board decision was unanimous. Stevens is 51 years old and highly regarded by all of the constituencies that the ICI represents. John Collins, an ICI spokesperson who has worked personally with Stevens, was "impressed with his great personality. There are a lot of bright people," Collins said, "but not as many who are also great to be around."

Stevens is currently a partner in the Financial Services Group at the Washington D.C. law firm of Dechert LLP. He came to Dechert from Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., where he was senior vice president and general counsel for mutual funds and international enterprise.

Stevens isn’t new to ICI. He served as the Institute’s senior vice president and general counsel from 1993 to 1997. Paul G. Haaga, Jr., the Institute’s chairman, highlighted Steven’s commitment to promoting best practices among fund managers.

"He led a number of important initiatives on behalf of mutual funds," Haaga said. These included "development of best practices governing personal investing by portfolio managers, establishment of special educational initiatives for fund directors, and adoption of significant disclosure reforms by the SEC. Paul also authored the Institute’s 1994 recommendation to the SEC that mutual fund advisers be required to have compliance programs and officers."

Stevens also served as special assistant to President Reagan for national security affairs and as executive secretary of the National Security Council under Colin Powell.

"His many years of experience representing mutual funds, their directors and advisers combined with his work with the Congress, the SEC, the NASD and at the White House place him in a unique position to lead the Institute in its representation of mutual funds in Washington," Haaga said.

In addition to authoring publications on mutual funds and national security, Stevens belongs to several related organizations. He is a member of the Markle Foundation’s Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Bar of the District of Columbia.

Stevens earned his B.A. from Yale, and his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law. 

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