Valerie A. Szczepanik is the Director of the Strategic Hub for Innovation and Financial
Technology (FinHub) Office at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Before
that, she was the Senior Advisor for Digital Assets and Innovation and an Associate Director in
the SEC’s Division of Corporation Finance. She also served as Assistant Director in the SEC
Division of Enforcement’s Cyber Unit. Ms. Szczepanik served as a Special Assistant United
States Attorney at the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. She
clerked for federal judges on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia and the
United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and, prior to clerking, practiced patent
law. Ms. Szczepanik received her Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University and her
Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania.