Mellissa Campbell Duru is a Special Counsel in Covington's Washington office and is a deputy co-leader of the firm's ESG practice. She advises clients on U.S. securities regulation, capital markets transactions, and strategic corporate governance planning. She develops advisory guidance for public companies and asset managers on ESG matters and public company disclosure and reporting obligations. Mellissa joined the firm after over 15 years at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission where she served as Counsel to SEC Commissioner Kara Stein and in a range of transactional and policy advisory roles in the Division of Corporation Finance and Division of Examinations.  As Counsel to SEC Commissioner Kara Stein, Mellissa was the lead advisor on ESG U.S. and international framework developments, including sustainable finance reporting and investment matters, cybersecurity, data privacy and governance issues, initial token offerings and financial technology developments, capital formation and exempt offering rulemakings, and SEC advisory committee matters.