Harvey Pitt recalls Sept. 11

SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt, now CEO of Washington-based business consulting firm Kalorama Partners, was in his office a little after 8 a.m. on Tues., Sept. 11 when an assistant dashed into his office to tell him that an airplane had crashed into the World Trade Center. Pitt shook off the first report as a freak disaster but when a second plane struck it was "crystal clear" the country was under attack, he recalls.

The disaster occurred just a month into Pitt's term as SEC chairman. A renowned securities lawyer and former agency chief counsel, he would not have an easy ride at the SEC helm. Only a few weeks later, the Enron Corp. and other accounting scandals would break, dragging him and the agency into a controversy that would ultimately lead to his resignation. The accounting scandals would lead to legislation creating the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board to supervise corporate auditing practices.

Despite his later travails, Pitt's efforts to bring New York's financial exchanges back to life after the terrorist attacks remains a solid accomplishment. He recalls the events in this installment of Decade of The Deal.

See the video below or download it at iTunes. And as we celebrate The Deal's 10-year anniversary, we'll feature monthly video interviews with personalities from each year of The Deal's history. Check out more episodes of Decade of The Deal below. -Bill McConnell

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• harvey
• pitt
• kalorama
• partners
• public
• company
• accounting
• oversight
• board
• sec
• securities
• exchange