Not surprisingly, SEC Chair White announced today that she intends to leave at the end of President Obama's administration.
It has been a tremendous honor to work alongside the incredibly talented and dedicated SEC staff members who do so much every day to protect investors and our markets,” said Chair White. “I am very proud of our three consecutive years of record enforcement actions, dozens of fundamental reforms through our rulemakings that have strengthened investor protections and market stability, and that the job satisfaction of our phenomenal staff has climbed in each of the last three years. I also want to express my appreciation for the engagement and dedication of my fellow Commissioners and my financial regulator colleagues, past and present.
While potential successor chair candidates have not yet been officially floated by President-Elect Trump's team, former Republican SEC Commissioner Paul Atkins reportedly is leading Trump's transition work relating to the SEC, CFTC and other financial regulators, and Republican Commissioner Piwowar has been identified in several sources as the likely acting chair pending confirmation by the Senate of a permanent successor.
See also this WSJ article re: Atkins, and these articles from Bloomberg, the WSJ, The Washington Post, Reuters and The New York Times concerning Chair White's departure and unverified chatter concerning potential successors.