As a member of the staff of the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) from 1986 to 2021, Barbara Roper emerged as the consumer movement’s leading expert on investor protection issues. She has written research reports, testified before Congress, and commented on regulatory proposals on a wide range of topics, including standards of conduct for investment professionals, auditor oversight, disclosure clarity and delivery methods, mutual fund regulation, arbitration, credit rating agency oversight, private securities offering exemptions, and more.

In 2021, Roper left CFA to join the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as Senior Advisor to Chair Gary Gensler. Roper advised the Chair on issues affecting retail investors, including regulatory policy, oversight, and enforcement. She retired from the SEC in January 2025.

Over the course of her career at CFA, Roper served on numerous advisory committees, including the SEC’s Investor Advisory Committee, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s Standing Advisory Group as well as its Investor Advisory Group, FINRA’s Investor Issues Group, the Investors Working Group, and the CFP Board’s Public Policy Council and Standards Resource Commission.

In 2020 and 2021, she was recognized as one of the 100 most influential women in American finance by Barron’s, and she was named a “Money Hero” by Money Magazine in 2012. Roper graduated from Princeton University in 1977 with a degree in art history.