Meredith Cross

Meredith B. Cross is a partner in the Transactional and Securities Departments, and a member of the Corporate Practice and Strategic Response Group. Ms. Cross joined WilmerHale in 1998 after serving as Chief Counsel and Deputy Director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance.

She later served as Director of the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance from 2009 to 2013 before rejoining the firm. Ms. Cross advises public companies and their boards on disclosure and other corporate finance securities law and corporate governance matters.

She handles matters for companies with the SEC, including no-action letters, financial statement waiver requests, and disclosure and financial statement reviews by staff of the Division of Corporation Finance, as well as SEC enforcement matters involving corporate finance issues.

Representing clients in corporate and securities matters, she has experience with the full range of issues faced by public and private companies in capital raising and public reporting.

Ms. Cross’s practice is primarily focused on advising public companies on corporate finance securities law matters, including disclosure and other requirements under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as well as the requirements under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. She also serves as issuer’s counsel and underwriters’ counsel in public and private offerings of debt and equity securities.

While serving as the Director of the Division of Corporation Finance of the SEC, Ms. Cross led the Division’s efforts to implement both the Dodd-Frank Act and the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act.

Under her leadership, the Division recommended close to 60 rulemaking releases to the Commission, including those relating to say-on-pay, conflict minerals, proxy access, compensation committees and compensation advisers, asset-backed securities, and the new regulatory regime for derivatives.

Ms. Cross also guided the Division’s pragmatic response to numerous issues relating to the IPO “on-ramp” provisions of the JOBS Act. During her tenure, Ms. Cross testified before Congress numerous times on a broad range of issues including corporate governance, capital formation, risk retention in asset-backed securities offerings, executive compensation oversight, and agency management and budget.

Ms. Cross currently serves as Chair of the Securities Regulation Institute and as Co-Chair of the Practicing Law Institute’s Annual Institute on Securities Regulation. She is also a frequent speaker at securities law conferences sponsored by the American Bar Association and the American Society of Corporate Secretaries & Governance Professionals.

Ms. Cross is a member of the SEC Institute Advisory Committee and the Board of Governors of the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins. She was a member of the ABA Corporate Laws Committee from 2013–2015.

EDUCATION :

• JD, Vanderbilt University Law School, 1982
• BA, Duke University, 1979

ADMISSIONS : District of Columbia

CLERKSHIPS : The Hon. Albert J. Henderson, US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

GOVERNMENT EXPERIENCE :

• Securities and Exchange Commission, Division of Corporation Finance, Director
• Securities and Exchange Commission, Division of Corporation Finance, Deputy Director
• Securities and Exchange Commission, Division of Corporation Finance, Associate Director
• Securities and Exchange Commission, Division of Corporation Finance, Chief Counsel
• Securities and Exchange Commission, Division of Corporation Finance, Deputy Chief Counsel.