Giovanni Prezioso born 1957 in Boston to Dr. and Mrs. Fausto Maria Prezioso of Towson, Md, became General Counsel of the US Securities and Exchange Commission in April 2002.

He served in that post under three different chairmen, Harvey Pitt

Harvey Pitt

Harvey Pitt was the 26th chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission , serving from 2001-2003. He led the SEC in restoring the U.S...

, William Donaldson

William Donaldson

Charles William Donaldson was an English satirist, writer, playboy and, under the pseudonym of Henry Root, author of The Henry Root Letters.-Life and career:...

, and Christopher Cox. During his tenure the SEC started over 2000 actions and 100 rules changes. It also successfully implemented the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

Sarbanes-Oxley Act

The Sarbanes–Oxley Act of 2002 , also known as the 'Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act' and 'Corporate and Auditing Accountability and Responsibility Act' and commonly called Sarbanes–Oxley, Sarbox or SOX, is a United States federal law enacted on July 30, 2002, which...

 of 2002. He also reduced the back log of cases awaiting SEC resolution

In early 2006, Mr. Prezioso stepped down from the post and rejoined his prior law firm, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP is an international law firm headquartered at One Liberty Plaza in New York City. The firm currently has offices in Washington DC, Hong Kong, Beijing, London, Rome, Milan, Brussels, Moscow, Frankfurt, Cologne, Paris, Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo. It employs over...

, as a partner resident in the firm's Washington, DC office.

Mr. Prezioso’s bar and other professional activities have included service as Chairman of the American Bar Association

American Bar Association

The American Bar Association , founded August 21, 1878, is a voluntary bar association of lawyers and law students, which is not specific to any jurisdiction in the United States. The ABA's most important stated activities are the setting of academic standards for law schools, and the formulation...

’s Subcommittee on Municipal and Governmental Obligations, as a member of the New York Stock Exchange Rule 431 Committee and as a member of the Global Documentation Steering Committee sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York

Federal Reserve Bank of New York

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is one of the 12 Federal Reserve Banks of the United States. It is located at 33 Liberty Street, New York, NY. It is responsible for the Second District of the Federal Reserve System, which encompasses New York state, the 12 northern counties of New Jersey,...

. He is currently a member of the Board of Advisors of the SEC Historical Society.

Mr. Prezioso is a graduate of Harvard Law School (J.D., magna cum laude, 1982) and Harvard College

Harvard College

Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...

 (A.B., History and Literature, magna cum laude, 1979).

Mr. Prezioso is a member of the Bar of the District of Columbia.

In 1987 he married Elizabeth Holladay Mathews, a television producer, at Christ Episcopal Church in Greenwich, Connecticut.