Just two days after being sworn in as Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler has already named four senior staffers, one of whom could signal a pivot toward an activist SEC.
After being confirmed by the U.S. Senate on April 14, Gensler was sworn in on April 17. His swearing in now shifts the power structure of the Commission back to three Democrats (Gensler, Allison Herren Lee and Caroline Crenshaw) to two Republicans (Hester Peirce and Elad Roisman). Allison Herren Lee had been serving as Acting Chair in the interim.
The new chairman is expected to bring a strong enforcement focus to the Commission, along with a more progressive agenda. In announcing the appointment of his policy director, Gensler has given the nod to someone with strong ties to labor unions and public interest groups.
Heather Slavkin Corzo will be the SEC Policy Director, leading a team who will advise Gensler on SEC rulemakings. Immediately before joining the SEC, Corzo was the Director of Capital Markets Policy at the AFL-CIO. Previously she was the head of U.S. policy at the Principles for Responsible Investment and a senior fellow at Americans for Financial Reform. She also served as director of the AFL-CIO’s Office of Investment and previously as its Senior Legal and Policy Advisor.
Her bios and web postings suggest that she’s a strong advocate for investor and worker protections. Among other things, her writings and comments indicate that she believes the SEC’s Reg BI, when it was first proposed, didn’t go far enough in protecting investors; that she supports legislation to make it more difficult for companies to engage in stock buybacks; and that she supports corporate disclosure of ESG factors.
The other appointees announced April 19 are:
- Prashant Yerramalli will continue to serve as the SEC’s Chief of Staff, a role he has held since January under Acting Chair Allison Herren Lee. In that capacity, Yerramalli serves as a senior advisor to Gensler on all aspects of the agency’s mission, including enforcement, rulemaking, examinations, and agency operations. Yerramalli previously held several positions at the SEC, including in the office of former Commissioner Robert Jackson, Jr., and in the Division of Enforcement. Outside of the SEC, he previously held roles at Brookfield Asset Management, Jenner & Block, and WilmerHale.
- Kevin Burris was named as Counselor to the Chair and Director of the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs, serving as the SEC’s primary liaison to Congress and other governmental agencies. Burris most recently worked at the House Committee on Financial Services, where he served as the Director of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Prior to his Capitol Hill service, Burris was an associate with the law firm of Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP in New York.
- Scott Schneider was named as Counselor to the Chair and Director of the Office of Public Affairs, serving as Gensler’s principal advisor on communications and overseeing media relations. Immediately before joining the SEC, Schneider was the Managing Director of Financial Communications at Ketchum.
More information about the appointments is available here.
