SEC Announces Schedule of Witnesses for Public Hearing on Auditor Independence

Schedule of Appearances
Public Hearing
9:00 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.

As previously announced, the Commission is holding a public hearing on Wednesday, September 13, in connection with its proposed rule amendments regarding auditor independence.

The hearing will take place in the Pace Downtown Theatre at Pace University
New York, New York

The following is a schedule of appearances for the hearing:

8:45 am: Opening Remarks
Morning Session

9:00 am: Panel 1
Laurence H. Meyer, Governor, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Paul A. Volcker, Former Chairman, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System

9:30 am: Panel 2
David A. Brown, Chairman, Ontario Securities Commission
John C. Whitehead, Retired Chairman, Goldman Sachs & Co.

10:00 am: Panel 3
Gary M. Pfeiffer, Chief Financial Officer, E. I. Du Pont De Nemours and Company
Judy Lewent, Senior Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, Merck & Co., Inc.

10:30 am: Panel 4
George Kim Johnson, General Counsel, Public Employees' Retirement Association of Colorado
Kayla J. Gillan, General Counsel, California Public Employees' Retirement System
Alan P. Cleveland, Special Legal Counsel, New Hampshire Retirement System
Ralph Whitworth, Managing Member, Relational Investors, LLC

11:30 am: Panel 5
Jo Ann Golden, Vice President, New York Society of Certified Public Accountants
Dennis Paul Spackman, Chairman, National Association of State Boards of Accountancy
David Costello, President and Chief Executive Officer, National Association of State Boards of Accountancy
William G. Bishop, III, President, Institute of Internal Auditors
Jacqueline K. Wagner, General Auditor, General Motors Corporation [Representing Institute of Internal Auditors]

12:15 pm: Lunch Break

Afternoon Session

1:00 pm: Panel 1
Tom Gardner, Co-Founder, The Motley Fool, Inc.
Bernard Blum, Blum Shapiro Financial Services Inc. [Representing Financial Planning Association]

1:30 pm: Panel 2
Domenick J. Esposito, Chief Executive Officer, Grant Thornton LLP
Thomas S. Goodkind, Formerly with Arthur Andersen & Co.

2:00 pm: Panel 3
Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney, County of New York

2:15 pm: Panel 4
Jay W. Eisenhofer, Grant & Eisenhofer, P.A.
Charles R. Drott

2:45 pm: Panel 5
Stephen G. Butler, Chairman, KPMG LLP
Representing the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants:
Robert K. Elliott, Chairman
Barry Melancon, President and Chief Executive Officer
Harold L. Monk, Jr., Chairman of the PCPS Executive Committee
Gordon A. Viere, Chairman of the Practice Group B Advisory Committee
Gary S. Shamis, Chairman of the PCPS Management of an Accounting Practice Committee

3:15 pm: Panel 6
Robert Fox, New York State Board for Public Accountancy
Larry Gelfond, Colorado Accountancy Board
Baxter Rice, California State Board of Accountancy
Anne Ross, Robert Wilkes, South Carolina Accountancy Board

4:15 pm: Break

4:30 pm: Panel 7
Graham Ward, President, The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales
Elise Neils, Director, Brand Finance plc

5:00 pm: Panel 8
Thomas C. DeFazio, Executive Vice President & Chief Financial Officer, VirtualCom Incorporated
Richard J. Stegemeier, Chairman Emeritus of the Board of Directors, UnoCal Corporation

5:30 pm: Panel 9
Daniel Dustin, New York State Education Department
Rajib Doogar, Professor, Department of Accountancy, University of Illinois at Champaign Urbana
David Dasgupta, Former AICPA Official

6:15 pm: Conclusion