Caroline D. Pham

Caroline D. Pham was sworn in as a CFTC Commissioner on April 14, 2022, after being nominated by President Biden and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Commissioner Pham is a recognized leader in financial services compliance and regulatory strategy and policy, with deep expertise in derivatives and capital markets and emerging issues such as digital innovation. Her substantial experience spans key international issues such as prudential regulation and systemic risk, financial markets including currencies and commodities, fintech and digital assets, ESG, and the impact of major disruptions like the savings and loan crisis, the 2008 financial crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to her appointment, Commissioner Pham advised boards of directors, executive and senior management, policymakers and regulators, and industry leaders on changes to the regulatory landscape and implications and risks of emerging issues, trends, and economic and market developments to the global financial system, markets, and banking. Her past engagement includes international standard setters such as the Financial Stability Board, IOSCO, Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, Bank for International Settlements, and Committee on Payment and Settlements Systems, as well as central banks, government ministries, regulators, and other stakeholders across North America, Latin America, United Kingdom, Europe, Middle East and Africa, and Asia-Pacific regions.

Commissioner Pham was previously a managing director at a large global financial institution where she held various senior roles in compliance, legal, the chief administrative office, and the institutional clients group, including as a global head of swap dealer and Volcker compliance; deputy head of global regulatory affairs; head of capital markets regulatory strategy and engagement; and head of market structure for strategic initiatives, working closely with innovation, strategic investment, and business and product development teams on digital assets and other opportunities. She has built global programs and teams and led initiatives for implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act and other global regulatory reforms, including the design of compliance risk management, governance, and oversight frameworks and policies and procedures across all institutional and retail businesses. She also had oversight of U.S. regulatory change management for markets, including rates and currencies, credit, securitized markets, commodities, municipal securities, and financial market infrastructures.

Commissioner Pham’s past experience in the private and public sectors includes serving as Special Counsel and Policy Advisor to former CFTC Commissioner Scott O’Malia; and in enforcement at the CFTC, SEC, and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and for the former chief judge of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims while in law school. She was also a Visiting Fellow at the George Washington University Center for Law, Economics, and Finance and most recently served on the Dean’s Advisory Council for the Business and Finance Law Program.

Commissioner Pham is a Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Her former leadership roles with the American Bar Association include member of the Council of the Business Law Section and the Executive Committee of its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Board; Vice Chair of the Banking Law Committee; and Co-Chair of the Securities, Capital Markets, and Derivatives Subcommittee. She is a former Co-Chair of the Business Law Fellows Committee, a program to develop future diverse leaders, and also a former Fellow herself. In addition, Commissioner Pham has served on a multitude of industry forums, including on the Executive Committee of the Chamber of Digital Commerce.

Commissioner Pham has a B.A. from UCLA and a J.D. from the George Washington University Law School, and was a recipient of the Manatt-Phelps Scholarship for excellence in banking law and the Vietnamese American Bar Association of the Greater Washington, DC Area Scholarship. She is from California’s Central Valley, the “food basket of the world."