The Daily Bulletin Archive

Kenneth Papaj, '73, commissioner of the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Management Service (retired), will speak on campus on Tuesday, October 9, at 1:45 p.m. in Rockwell Hall 304. His talk is free and open to the public.

Papaj served for more than 34 years in the Treasury Department's Fiscal Service, from 1973 to 2007. He was the commissioner at FMS for 19 months and deputy commissioner for eight and a half years. 

Papaj worked for more than 24 years in the Treasury’s Bureau of the Public Debt, earning increasingly greater levels of responsibility and authority. In 1985 and 1986, he led a team from the Treasury and the Federal Reserve in developing the terms and conditions for the Treasury’s new zero-coupon instrument, STRIPS (Separate Trading of Registered Interest and Principal of Securities), and in designing an automated system to maintain and account for STRIPS.

From 1987 to 1997, Papaj was the director of the Government Securities Regulations staff, which regulated brokers and dealers in the government securities market. He worked closely with the Securities and Exchange Commission, bank regulatory agencies, and the National Association of Securities Dealers in ensuring adequate capital levels for government securities brokers and dealers and customer protections for investors. 

Papaj is the recipient of two Senior Executive Service (SES) Meritorious Executive Awards and one SES Distinguished Executive Award for his work at the Treasury. He graduated summa cum laude from Buffalo State in 1973 with a degree in political science.