Regent University School of Law announced on May 19 that Hester M. Peirce will join its faculty as an associate professor beginning in November 2026, marking her departure from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission after more than seven years as a commissioner.
Peirce, appointed to the SEC in January 2018, has been a prominent and sometimes dissenting voice at the agency. She was named head of the SEC’s Crypto Task Force in January 2025 and became widely known in the crypto industry as ‘Crypto Mom’ for her steady advocacy for digital-asset innovation and for pushing back against enforcement-heavy approaches under former chair Gary Gensler.
Regent Law said Peirce will teach courses in securities regulation, financial markets, digital assets, and public policy at its Virginia Beach campus. Dean S. Ernie Walton said that Peirce and fellow new faculty member Greg Jacob ‘have served at the highest levels of law, government, and public life’ and called their arrival ‘a remarkable blessing for our students.’
Peirce’s move signals a winding down of her time at the SEC. Her statutory term technically expired in mid-2025, though commissioners are permitted to remain up to 18 months past their term’s end until a successor is confirmed. During her tenure, she led efforts inside the agency to address a backlog of crypto regulatory issues and helped shape the Crypto Task Force’s 10-point roadmap intended to move the SEC away from an enforcement-only posture and toward clearer rules for digital assets.
Even so, observers note that Peirce’s exit removes the SEC’s most prominent pro-innovation voice at a moment when U.S. policy on crypto is still evolving. Analysts have pointed out that while the agency’s internal approach can shift, the courts remain an unpredictable and decisive factor in how U.S. crypto regulation ultimately develops.
Peirce has repeatedly urged a regulatory stance that allows experimentation. As she put it in a recent interview, ‘All I’m asking is that we have an innovation policy that allows people to innovate and try new things.’
At Regent, she will be positioned to influence the next generation of lawyers and policymakers while continuing to shape public debate on securities law and digital assets from academia. Her appointment underscores a broader trend of senior regulators moving into teaching and policy roles after government service.