Bevis Longstreth served as a Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from 1981-84, twice appointed by President Reagan. For many years he was a partner in the New York-based law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton. He served on the boards of directors of three major investment management firms: College Retirement Equities Fund, AMVESCAP and Grantham, Mayo and Von Otterloo. In 1986, Oxford University Press published Modern Investment Management and the Prudent Man Rule, a book he wrote seeking to reform the law of investment management by fiduciaries.