By Bill Singer, Contributor

On Sept. 13, 2011, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) announced the formation of the Advisory Committee on Small and Emerging Companies  (“Advisory Committee”) to focus on interests and priorities of small businesses and smaller public companies; pointedly  the mandate was to advise on rules, regulations and policies pertaining to emerging companies, privately-held small businesses,  and publicly traded companies with less than $250 million in public market capitalization.  Among the specific topics on which the Advisory Committee’s guidance was sought were: raising capital through securities offerings, including private and limited offerings and initial and other public offerings; trading in the securities of emerging and smaller public companies; and public reporting and corporate governance requirements of emerging and smaller public companies. Get Yer Scorecard! As initially reported, the roster for the Advisory Committee comprised: Co-Chair Stephen M. Graham, Partner at Fenwick & West LLP in Seattle, and Co-Chair M. Christine Jacobs, CEO and Chairman at Theragenics Corp. in Buford, Ga. Members: David A. Bochnowski, Chairman and CEO, Northwest Indiana Bancorp, Munster, Ind.   John J. Borer III, Senior Managing Director and Head of Investment Banking, Rodman & Renshaw LLC, New York, N.Y.   Dan Chace, Manager, Wasatch Micro Cap Fund, Salt Lake City, Utah   Milton Chang, Managing Director, Incubic Venture Fund, Menlo Park, Calif.   Joseph (Leroy) Dennis, Partner, McGladrey & Pullen, Bloomington, Minn.   Shannon L. Greene, CFO, Tandy Leather Factory, Fort Worth, Texas   Kara B. Jenny, CFO, BlueFly Inc., New York, N.Y.   Steven R. LeBlanc, Senior Managing Director of External Private Market, Teacher Retirement System of Texas, Austin, Texas   Richard L. Leza, Chairman of the Board, Exar Corp., Fremont, Calif.   Paul Maeder, General Partner, Highland Capital Partners, Lexington, Mass.   Kathleen A. McGowan, Vice President – Finance, Tobira Therapeutics Inc., Manalapan, N.J.    Catherine V. Mott, CEO and Founder, Blue Tree Capital Group, Pittsburgh, Pa.   Karyn Smith, Deputy General Counsel, Zynga Inc., San Francisco, Calif.   Dan Squiller, CEO, PowerGenix, San Diego, Calif.   Charlie Sundling, Chairman and CEO, Pipeline Software, Orange County, Calif.   Timothy Walsh, Director, State of New Jersey Division of Investment, Trenton, N.J.   Gregory C. Yadley, Partner, Shumaker, Loop & Kendrick LLP, Tampa, Fla. Observor Members: Sean Greene, Associate Administrator for Investment and Special Advisor for Innovation, U.S. Small Business Administration   A. Heath Abshure, Arkansas Securities Commissioner and Chairman of the Corporation Finance Section of the North American Securities Administrators Association. Read the biographies of the Advisory Committee New Equity Market On February 1, 2013, the Advisory Committee unanimously recommended to the SEC the creation of a separate U.S. equity market that would purportedly facilitate trading in the securities of small and emerging companies.  The recommendation was formally conveyed to the SEC on March 21, 2013, the substance of which is reprinted below: AFTER CONSIDERING THAT: The Committee believes that current U.S. equity markets often fail to offer a satisfactory trading venue for the securities of small and emerging companies because they fail to provide sufficient liquidity for …read more
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