Mr. Wallman pioneered a number of innovations, including the ability to trade fractional shares in portfolios of securities, dollar-based as opposed to share based investing, window-based trading, direct indexing for accounts of all sizes, the use of non-traded and privately issued securities in online offerings, a values-based (ESG) robo-advisor, and others -- all with the mission of encouraging diversified, smarter, engaged and cost-efficient investing. Folio also owned The SRI Conference, the premier event for advisors and others interested in SRI/ESG investing. Mr. Wallman also founded the Proxy Governance Group, Inc. which provided proxy advising and voting services for institutional investors.

Mr. Wallman has approximately twenty patents to his name.

At the SEC, Mr. Wallman was known for his advocacy of the interests of individual investors. Among other things he introduced concepts of electronic communications and Internet based services into a world dominated by paper, instigated the transformation of the US equity markets from trading in fractions (e.g., quarters, eighths and sixteenths) to dollars and cents, promoted the concept of “company registration” to simplify the capital raising process and championed methods for streamlined small company capital formation.

Prior to his public service at the SEC, Mr. Wallman was a partner at the law firm of Covington & Burling, where he created a corporate governance specialty. There he wrote the first US state law recognizing that boards of directors, in promoting the long-term best interests of a corporation, are explicitly allowed to take into account not only the interests of shareholders but also of other stakeholders such as employees and the community. That law and its underlying concept has now been implemented in various forms in the vast majority of states, and laid the foundation for SRI investing, currently known as ESG investing. It is sometimes taken further as “stakeholder” or “B Corporation” models of corporate governance.

Mr. Wallman is currently a recognized authority on securities markets, trading, corporate governance and the application of technology to financial services. He has served on the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee, where he chaired its Market Structure Subcommittee and served on FINRA’s Fintech Advisory Committee.

Mr. Wallman earned his Juris Doctor (’78) from Columbia University, and holds two degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (SM, ’76; SB, ’75).

Steven Wallman recently retired as Advisory Director from Goldman Sachs. Previously, Mr. Wallman was the founder and CEO of Folio Financial, Inc., a financial services and technology firm, which was acquired by Goldman in 2020. Prior to Folio, Mr. Wallman served as Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from 1994 to 1997, appointed by President Bill Clinton. Earlier, from 1978, he was an associate and then partner at the law firm Covington & Burling. Folio offered various financial technology and related services primarily to individual investors, investment advisors and other broker-dealers.