Matthew Rees Named Chief Speechwriter and Senior Adviser to SEC Chairman Donaldson

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2003-118

Washington, D.C., September 16, 2003 — SEC Chairman William H. Donaldson today announced the appointment of Matthew R. Rees to serve as Chief Speechwriter and Senior Adviser to the Chairman. Rees will contribute to and coordinate the Chairman's speeches, articles, and congressional testimony, and will provide strategic counsel on issues before the Commission.

Rees, 35, previously served at the White House, as a Director for Foreign Policy Speechwriting on the National Security Council, where he wrote for President George W. Bush, National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, and Deputy National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. Rees has also served as Chief Speechwriter & Strategic Adviser to the United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Robert B. Zoellick. Before joining the Bush Administration, Rees spent nearly 10 years as a journalist, working in Washington for The Weekly Standard, The Economist, and The New Republic, and in New York and Brussels for The Wall Street Journal. His freelance writing was published in a variety of publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Reader's Digest, and he is the author of From the Deck to the Sea: Blacks and the Republican Party.

Mr. Rees -- a native of Lafayette, Calif. -- is a graduate of Wesleyan University and a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.