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While chief accountant for the SEC\u2019s investment management division, Alison Staloch reports, she found herself being greeted by a degree of inclusive enthusiasm that she had seldom encountered before.

\u201cPeople would say, \u2018Great, the accountants are here!,\u2019\u201d recalls Staloch, who tells us that accountants at divisional meetings were sometimes sparse in comparison to the number of agency attorneys seated at the table.

\u201cComing from a place where everyone was an accountant, this was new to me,\u201d continues Staloch, who tells us that the commission\u2019s high regard for her expertise and the accounting discipline in general helped to make her 5-1/2-year tenure there a satisfying career chapter.

Having joined the organization as part of the SEC Fellows Program, Staloch found that her experience there seemed to grant her a healthy dose of professional activation\u2014something that she admits that her early career had not always provided in large supply.  

\u201cI wavered a lot early in my career\u2014I took the MCAT but didn\u2019t go to medical school, and I took the LSAT but didn\u2019t go to law school,\u201d remarks Staloch, who as a seasoned KPMG auditor found herself similarly vexed with regard to possible next opportunities behind the doors at that firm.

The SEC Fellows Program, however, was different. \u201cI thought to myself, \u2018Wow!\u2014this is just a great way to become ingrained with an understanding of how regulations impact the accounting standards that companies operate under,\u2019\u201d remarks Staloch, who eventually exited the SEC in Spring 2021 to step into the CFO role at Fundrise, a software company that gives investors access to commercial and residential real estate deals by pooling their assets through an investment platform.

Self-dubbed as the largest \u201cdirect-to-consumer alternative asset manager,\u201d Fundrise has future investor-related ambitions that no doubt made Staloch\u2019s resume\u2014rich with regulatory smarts and investment management intuition\u2014an attractive match.

Says Staloch: \u201cAt the time, I still had thoughts about going back to public accounting. I do have a deep respect for that profession, but this came up somewhat serendipitously after I met Fundrise\u2019s CEO through my network. He was very visionary and inspiring as he explained Fundrise\u2019s mission, and it became very appealing to me.\u201d \u2013Jack Sweeney