MICHAEL BIXBY TAKES CHARGE AS PRESIDENT OF PIABA

MICHAEL BIXBY TAKES CHARGE AS PRESIDENT OF PIABA

Bixby Named New President of Public Investors Advocate Bar Association, Outlines Agenda to Focus on Raising the Bar on Investor Protection Across Financial Services Industries

WASHINGTON, DC (October 30, 2025) – The Public Investors Advocate Bar Association (PIABA) is pleased to announce that Michael Bixby, the founder and managing attorney for Bixby Law PLLC, in Pensacola, Florida has been sworn in as the new president of PIABA.

As PIABA President, Bixby intends to continue PIABA’s efforts to increase investor protections. PIABA’s focus to start the 2025-2026 term includes:

Advocacy for Consumer Protection in Cryptocurrency Regulation: PIABA will fight for investor rights in the constantly changing financial services industry, including cryptocurrency and tokenization. This will include working to provide a voice for investors in the changing cryptocurrency policies and ensuring that appropriate safeguards and oversight are applied.
Protecting Americans from Frauds and Scams: PIABA will fight to address the growing sea of fraud and scams being perpetrated on elderly retirees and other Americans. All investment professionals – brokers, advisors, banks, and cryptocurrency exchanges – must do more to protect investors from the increasingly sophisticated frauds and scams that pose a nearly existential risk to our financial system. Legal requirements and regulations must impose more stringent obligations on financial professionals to take action when they know or should know frauds or scams are being perpetrated on their clients.
Ensuring FINRA Follows its Investor Protection Mandate: PIABA is actively engaged in encouraging and working with FINRA on a myriad of issues, ranging from unpaid awards to arbitration procedural safeguards. Given the persistent problem of unpaid awards dating back over two decades – and FINRA’s controversial decision this year to refund $50 million to its brokerage firm members rather than addressing the problem – PIABA will advocate for FINRA to implement a real fix to this issue through mandatory insurance or a national investor recovery pool . PIABA will also fight against the brokerage industry’s efforts to eliminate important arbitration reforms, including protecting the neutrality of the arbitration panels and the public arbitrator, ensuring that arbitration panels are fully empowered to award investors full justice, such as punitive damages where appropriate, and more.
Investment Adviser Arbitration Reform: PIABA will continue its advocacy to reform investment advisory arbitration. Mandatory arbitration by fiduciary investment advisers is very often unfair to investors, forcing the investor into a one-sided arbitration clause that waives important rights, overburdens the investor, and prices them out of justice.

Michael Bixby founded Bixby Law PLLC, a boutique securities litigation law firm based in Pensacola, Florida. As an advocate and trial lawyer, he dedicates his practice primarily on representing retirees and investors in securities and investment fraud litigation and has obtained numerous record-breaking FINRA Arbitration Awards and recoveries.

Bixby said: “The legal protections and rights of the retail investor are under an unprecedented attack from the financial services industry, Wall Street, banks and cryptocurrency interests. At the same time, some regulators are cutting back on investor protection efforts, and the rights of important state regulators are also being challenged. PIABA will continue to advocate to raise the bar on investor protection and preserve the rights of the investing public. I am eager to apply my professional tenacity and willingness to fight Wall Street greed to the critical mission of PIABA, and I look forward to working alongside PIABA members and investor advocates to stand in the gap for mom and pop main street investors.”

PIABA also announced that Joseph Wojciechowski will serve as the Executive Vice President / President Elect. Benjamin Edwards was elected as the incoming Vice-President along with Courtney Werning as Secretary and Lance McCardle as Treasurer.

PIABA also welcomed its new Board members: Jason Kane and Craig Kuglar.

ABOUT PIABA

The Public Investors Advocate Bar Association is an international, not-for-profit, voluntary bar association of lawyers who represent claimants in securities and commodities arbitration proceedings and securities litigation. The mission of PIABA is to promote the interests of the public investor in securities arbitration, by seeking to protect such investors from abuses in the arbitration process, by seeking to make securities arbitration as just and fair as systemically possible and by educating investors concerning their rights. For more information, go to https://www.piaba.org.

CONTACT: Max Karlin, (703) 276-3255 or mkarlin@hastingsgroupmedia.com.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Michael Bixby is available for media interviews to help update reporters about the current problems many attorneys experience with the investor arbitration process, and how PIABA is dedicated to finding and researching the best possible solutions for investors.

Hear what our members say about PIABA.

See how PIABA has helped protect others in investment disputes within the securities industry.

“The resources and networking opportunities provided by PIABA have been instrumental in my career development. When I was new to the practice, I was surrounded by mentors and friends who were always willing to help. Over the 12+ years I have been a member, PIABA has consistently been my most valuable support. As an experienced lawyer, PIABA offers leadership roles and opportunities to give back by mentoring the next generation of attorneys in this area. You won’t regret getting involved.”

Meyer Wilson

Courtney M. Werning, Esq. | Principal

“I have been a PIABA member since the year of its founding in 1991. For 33 years PIABA has been an unparalleled source of information and ideas, and remains an integral part of my law practice. More important, I count many of its members as my friends. PIABA has greatly enriched my life, both professionally and socially.”

Leonard Steiner

STEINER & LIBO

“Piaba has been instrumental to the growth of my career. I have made lifelong friends and have attended every annual meeting for the last 15 years. The list-serve, the dedication of its members and its national reach is the gold standard for any bar association.”

Gana Weinstein

Adam J. Gana | Managing Partner

“PIABA is the greatest bar association I have had the privilege of being a part of. PIABA and its membership have been instrumental in my growth and development as a securities litigation attorney in representing and fighting for investors. As a member of PIABA you will find many attorneys across the country who are willing to help you from sharing practice tips to arguments. There is no organization doing more good for the investing public than PIABA.”

Michael C. Bixby

Bixby Law PLLC | Founder & Managing Attorney