Olmem served on the influential committee for more than seven years; was lead Senate staff negotiator on Dodd-Frank legislation.
Washington, DC (July 11, 2013) – Venable LLP announced that Andrew Olmem, the former Republican Chief Counsel and Deputy Staff Director of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, has joined the firm’s Washington, DC office as a partner. He will be a member of the Financial Services, and Legislative and Government Affairs Practice Groups.
Mr. Olmem served on the staff of the high-profile Senate Banking Committee for more than seven years and played a key role during the financial crisis and Congress' consideration of the Dodd-Frank Act.
He is recognized for his experience in financial regulatory policy and knowledge of banking, securities, insurance, consumer finance, and housing finance law.
As a lead Senate staff negotiator for the Dodd-Frank Act, Mr. Olmem was particularly involved with its provisions dealing with the regulation and resolution of systemic financial institutions, Federal Reserve liquidity programs, financial regulatory structure, and prudential regulation of financial institutions.
Mr. Olmem's tenure at the Senate Banking Committee also witnessed the passage of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act, and the TARP legislation. Most recently, he was involved with the passage of the JOBS Act, the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act, and the Iran Threat Reduction and Syrian Human Rights Act.
As Chief Counsel, he oversaw the Republican legal staff and devised and coordinated legislative strategy with Senate and House leadership. His work involved regular engagement with financial regulators and the Executive branch. He also has extensive experience with Congressional hearings and investigations.
Prior to his Congressional staff service, Mr. Olmem was a corporate and securities attorney for Mayer Brown in New York City and at Shaw Pittman in Northern Virginia. He also served in the Summer Honors Law Program at the Securities and Exchange Commission. He began his career as an assistant economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
Ronald Glancz, who heads Venable’s Financial Services Group, commented: “Federal oversight continues to create fresh challenges for our clients – Dodd-Frank may be the biggest iceberg but there are scores of other new rules and bills that make for tough sailing. For more than seven years, Andrew Olmem has been at the center of this environment – which has produced the farthest-sweeping set of financial laws since the New Deal. Andrew’s experience at the powerful Senate Banking Committee, coupled with his previous work in private practice for leading firms, gives him a unique view of the legislative and regulatory environment affecting financial services companies. We are very happy to have him in our firm.”
Brock Landry, who co-chairs the firm’s Government Division, added, “Andrew’s reputation as a keen thinker and strategist will be an excellent fit with our legislative practice. He knows the Hill well and, as important, the Hill knows him. We are delighted that he is joining Venable.”
Venable boasts one of the country’s leading financial services practices, whose members bring a significant mix of credentials from Capitol Hill and the major government enforcement and regulatory agencies.
The group is led by Mr. Glancz, a former Assistant General Counsel and Acting Deputy General Counsel of the FDIC and former director of the litigation division of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. It also includes John Bowman, former Acting Director of the Office of Thrift Supervision, who, as Acting OTS Director, was on the FDIC Board of Directors; Ralph Sharpe, formerly a Director of Enforcement and Compliance at the OCC; John Beaty, former Assistant General Counsel at the FDIC and head of the Resolution Trust Corporation’s Professional Liability Section; William Donovan, former General Counsel of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions; and Michael Rivera, the former Chief Investigative Counsel for the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP). Also joining this past spring was Allyson Baker, who was a member of the initial team of attorneys hired to stand up the enforcement division at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
“Venable’s reputation as a leader in financial services was an immediate draw for me. The firm’s impressive array of attorneys with senior legislative, regulatory-enforcement, and policy backgrounds fits perfectly with both my government service and private practice experience,” said Mr. Olmem.
“Congress and financial regulators are still actively considering market-changing reforms that will impact the entire financial services industry,” he added. “From the ongoing Congressional debate over housing finance to the implementation of Dodd-Frank rules, financial reform is far from over. I look forward to assisting Venable clients in navigating this ever-challenging regulatory environment.”
Mr. Olmem received his J.D., cum laude, from the Washington and Lee University School of Law (2001) and his B.A. from Washington and Lee University (1996).
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