White House Appointment

Maryland Adventist Gets Key
White House Appointment

BY TAASHI ROWE, Columbia Union Visitor

The United States Senate recently confirmed presidential appointee Orlan Johnson—a member of Allegheny East Conference’s Capitol Hill Seventh-day Adventist church in Washington, D.C., to a key governmental post. Johnson will chair the Board of Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC).

Orlan Johnson
The quasi-governmental agency was created in 1970 to provide oversight of failed brokerage firms. When a brokerage firm is closed due to bankruptcy or other financial difficulties and customer assets are missing, SIPC steps in as quickly as possible and, within certain limits, works to return customer cash, stock, and other securities.

“As chair I will help to set policies and procedures as to how the organization would work,” Johnson explains. “And it is my privilege to chair the SIPC at this critical time when so many investors have been the victims of immense fraud and need an advocate.”

A graduate of Blue Mountain Academy, in Hamburg, Pennsylvania, and Andrews University, in Berrien Springs, Michigan, Johnson served on then-presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s national finance committee. He is a partner at the Saul Ewing LLP law firm and teaches securities law at his alma mater, Howard University Law School in Washington, D.C.

“I’m truly thankful the Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to serve our country, and I just ask for His guidance as I move forward,” Johnson says.