Good morning, and thank you all for attending today’s meeting. Welcome to the Committee’s new members. I appreciate the work of the Committee and the willingness of experts to share their views as panelists. I also appreciate the work of the Office of the Advocate for Small Business Capital Formation in supporting the Committee’s work.

I commend the Committee for its continued focus on finders and look forward to any recommendations the Committee develops. As I mentioned at the last meeting, current activity in this area is shaped by a muddled web of no-action letters that is out of step with practical realities. Last meeting’s discussion of status quo finder activity underscored that point. The absence of a finder’s framework does not deter bad actors. Good actors may unwittingly act as finders, or, if they are aware of the law’s unduly strict limitations, may observe from the sidelines rather than helping to match investors and companies. I appreciated your in-depth discussion of what sensible finders regulation could look like and your focus on how finders can help companies to raise money in amounts too small for brokers to bother with. You covered a lot of other territory as well, from essential disclosures for finder activity to AI agents. I hope today’s discussion will be equally interesting and constructive as you devise recommendations.

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