Barbara Roper, the Consumer Federation of America’s longtime director of investor protection, just got a much bigger soapbox.

As the newly appointed senior advisor to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler, Roper will have the ear of not only America’s top securities cop, but the Department of Labor and Congressional lawmakers and staff as well.

"Barb is a champion for investors and will provide invaluable counsel on behalf of the American public," Chair Gensler said in a statement. "I've had the pleasure of working closely with her on the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the critical market reforms of the Dodd-Frank Act, and I’m thrilled to collaborate with her again at the SEC."

Gensler said Roper will be responsible for issues relating to retail investor protection, including matters relating to policy, broker-dealer oversight, investment advisor oversight and examinations.

A stalwart advocate for fiduciary standards and consumer rights, Roper worked at the CFA for 35 years and has been a leading consumer spokesperson on investor protection issues. She has also conducted studies of the financial planning industry, state oversight of investment advisors, and state and federal financial planning regulation.

Roper has also led the charge to reform the mutual fund industry in the wake of trading and sales abuse scandals, has conducted studies on the potential of the internet to improve disclosure, and securities law weaknesses as a cause of the financial crisis. She has served on numerous advisory committees at the SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra). She is a graduate of Princeton University with a degree in art history.

"I'm excited to join the SEC and Chair Gensler's leadership team," Roper said. "I've dedicated my career to ensuring that our capital markets work for the average investor. With investor protection at the core of the SEC's mission, I’m looking forward to bringing that same focus on the needs of individual investors to my work for the SEC."

Roper introduced herself to Gensler in a very public, very characteristic way back in April. In keeping with a 20-year tradition, Roper greeted the newly sworn SEC chairman with a letter, this one outlining all the new chair needed to do to fix the SEC’s retail investment advice rules, known as Regulation Best Interest.

“For decades, the commission has failed to live up to its central investor protection mission when it comes to the regulation of broker-dealers and investment advisers,” Roper said in the letter. “You have an opportunity to correct that failure, and we urge you to do so. It is, in CFA’s view, the most important step you can and should take to protect the interests of millions of financially unsophisticated individuals who turn to the markets to save for retirement or other important life goals and desperately need advice they can trust to navigate those decisions.”

Now as Gensler’s senior advisor, Roper will have a direct hand in helping steer SEC enforcement and future policy making around Reg BI and more. She will also be a voice for the SEC with the Department of Labor, which is scheduled to start enforcing its own new fiduciary rule at the end of December.

Roper was part of a consortium of 30 pro-investor trade group’s that in May asked the DOL to toughen its fiduciary rule and “close legal loopholes that would otherwise enable firms to evade appropriate application of the fiduciary duty.” Since then, the DOL has indicated that it plans additional rulemaking along these lines. 

CFP Board CEO Kevin Keller said in a statement that the board "applauds" Roper's appointment. “While most people know Barbara Roper for her life’s work on investor protection issues, we’ve watched for years as she’s engaged tirelessly with industry participants to find common ground. Ms. Roper generously shared her expertise by serving with distinction on three CFP Board commissions,” Keller added.

Among her work with the CFP Board, Roper helped to develop its code of ethics and standards of conduct.