PROFESSOR SARAH J. WILLIAMS JOINS OTHER DISTINGUISHED SEC AND PCAOB ALUMNI IN CONTRIBUTING TO FORTHCOMING BIOGRAPHY OF GEORGE H. DIACONT, FORMER PCAOB DIRECTOR AND SEC ACCOUNTANT
February 2024 — Professor Sarah J. Williams shared her experiences working with George H. Diacont, CPA, at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”) in a biography of the regulatory paladin that will appear in the June 2024 issue of the Accounting Historians Journal. Professor Williams worked with Mr. Diacont on a financial fraud investigation while serving as a staff attorney in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. She later joined him at the PCAOB after he was named as its first Director of the Division of Registration and Inspections.
Professor Williams was interviewed by Professor John D. Keyser of Case Western Reserve University for a biography entitled “The First PCAOB Director of Registration and Inspections, George Henry Diacont.” The biography, forthcoming in the June 2024 issue of the Accounting Historians Journal, details the life and career of Mr. Diacont as a former accounting professor, a Vietnam War veteran, a distinguished accounting regulator at both the SEC and the PCAOB, a husband, a father, and a grandfather. It describes his accomplishments and incorporates the experiences of Professor Williams and others who worked with him during his regulatory career. The biography notes “George Diacont was selected to be the first Director of the [Division of Registration and Inspections] because of his prior experiences but also because of his commitment to doing the right thing and his ability to stand up under the pressure that he would inevitably face in the role.” These values were apparent to all who worked with him, and are the lodestar for Professor Williams’ career.
Sarah J. Williams is an Assistant Professor of Law at Penn State Dickinson Law with over 25 years of experience as a securities regulator. Among other roles, she served as Deputy Director at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, Commissioner’s Counsel and Enforcement Branch Chief at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and Associate General Counsel at NASD (now FINRA). She previously authored The Alchemy of Effective Auditor Regulation, 25 LEWIS & CLARK L. REV. 1089 (2022), and Regulatory Personhood: The Elixir for Redundancy Between the SEC and the PCAOB, forthcoming in ST. JOHN’S LAW REVIEW, and Congressional Insider Trading: The Rotten Egg Approach, forthcoming in CARDOZO LAW REVIEW.