For Immediate Release: September 10, 2024
Wisconsin DFI Securities Administrator Leslie Van Buskirk Begins Tenure as NASAA President
MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) today announced the agency’s Division of Securities Administrator Leslie Van Buskirk begins her one-year tenure as president of the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) today. Van Buskirk sat down for her first presidential fireside chat during the annual NASAA conference, held this year in Vancouver, British Columbia.
“I am truly honored to serve as NASAA’s president,” said Van Buskirk. “I am excited to work alongside my colleagues on the issues important to Main Street investors and look forward to advancing NASAA’s investor protection mission.”
Van Buskirk was elected as president-elect by NASAA members in 2023 and assumed her new role as the 2024-2025 NASAA president on September 10, 2024. She succeeds Claire McHenry, deputy director, Bureau of Securities, Nebraska Department of Banking and Finance, in the role. In addition, Van Buskirk has served in numerous leadership roles at NASAA, including being a member of the board of directors and the former chair of the Broker-Dealer Section Committee. Most recently, she served as a representative of state securities regulators on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee. In 2014, she received a NASAA Distinguished Service Award for her work on improving securities arbitration for investors.
Van Buskirk has 22 years of state securities regulation experience. She has served as the DFI’s Division of Securities administrator since 2016, after serving the agency as an enforcement attorney and supervisor for 14 years. In 2012, she received an honorable mention for the 29th annual Virginia Hart Award for her service to the State of Wisconsin. Van Buskirk is also a member of the statewide Wisconsin Elder Justice Coalition. Prior to joining the DFI, Van Buskirk was in private practice for more than 12 years at Kersten & McKinnon, S.C., a Milwaukee civil litigation law firm. Van Buskirk earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and her law degree from Marquette University Law School.
“Leslie has served investors in Wisconsin and nationwide admirably through her work to prevent financial exploitation, particularly of older adults, and working with law enforcement and adult protective service workers to combat the onslaught of pig-butchering scams and foreign criminal organizations,” said DFI Secretary Cheryll Olson-Collins. “Leslie has dedicated her career to investors and ensuring a safe, sound, and robust securities industry at the state, national, and international level. Our agency is proud of her service, and we look forward to watching Leslie lead NASAA into the future.”
Organized in 1919, NASAA is the oldest international organization devoted to investor protection. NASAA is a voluntary association whose membership consists of the securities regulators in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the 13 provincial and territorial securities regulators in Canada, and the securities regulator in México. For more information, visit NASAA’s website at NASAA.org.
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Media Contact Email: DFICommunications@dfi.wisconsin.gov