During his first Senate confirmation hearing, Uyeda said that his own first job was helping his grandfather “pull cartons of fruits and vegetables off the truck to deliver them to small restaurants and retailers.” That work ethic animates his worldview, he told CAPASA.
In his current role as an SEC Commissioner, Uyeda has harshly criticized government attempts to mandate the use of ESG in investing. “The Commission needs to cease empowering special interest ESG activists to dominate C-suites and corporate boards,” Uyeda said in a recent interview. “We should take a hard look at policies that permit a small number of proxy advisers and asset managers to effectively control public companies. The commission must empower entrepreneurs to build businesses, create jobs and innovate by focusing on capital formation.”
Since becoming a commissioner in 2022, Uyeda has often opposed its controversial chairman Gary Gensler. During a recent House Financial Services Committee hearing, Uyeda, sitting a few seats down from Gensler, called the chairman’s work “below average.” Uyeda, who has worked at the SEC for almost two decades, has experienced rulemaking under both Democratic and Republican Chairs. Per Uyeda, the SEC was a “best practices” regulator until Gensler arrived.
Uyeda frequently raises concerns from his SEC perch that large asset managers have at times potentially misled the public through woke stakeholder capitalism initiatives. Uyeda believes that American companies should focus on increasing shareholder value, not on political pet projects that are often deleterious to shareholder value.
