Former Commissioner of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Vice Chair of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation
Sharon Y. Bowen was elected to the Akamai board of directors in April 2021. She has been a member of the board of directors of Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. since 2017, where she serves as chair of its New York Stock Exchange subsidiary, and has been on the board of Neuberger Berman Group LLC since 2019.
She began her professional career as an attorney whose practice involved corporate, finance, and securities transactions for large global corporations and financial institutions, including mergers and acquisitions, securities offerings, strategic alliances, corporate restructurings, and leveraged finance. She served as a commissioner of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission for three years, where she had extensive international engagement with central banks, regulators, and market participants across the globe. Before that, Bowen was confirmed by the United States Senate and appointed by President Barack Obama in February 2010 to serve as vice chair of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation. She assumed the role of acting chair in March 2012.
Bowen holds a Bachelor of Arts with distinction in Economics from University of Virginia, a Juris Doctor from Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, and a Master of Business Administration from Kellogg School of Management, also at Northwestern University. Throughout her legal career, she has been active in the Bar Association of the City of New York, the New York State Bar, and The American Bar Association.