By Hazel Bradford, Crain News Service
WASHINGTON (March 20, 2013) — Mary Jo White was confirmed to be the next chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee on March 19.
The panel voted 21-1, with Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, casting the dissenting vote. Full Senate confirmation is expected in the coming weeks.
Mr. Brown, who chairs the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Protection, said in a statement that while he did not question the integrity of the former federal prosecutor and securities attorney, "I do question Washington's long-held bias toward Wall Street and its inability to find watchdogs outside of the very industry that they are meant to police. Mary Jo White will have plenty of opportunities to prove me wrong. I hope she will."
At a March 12 confirmation hearing, Ms. White told the committee members that she would push the agency to finish work on a regulatory agenda mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, and to boost enforcement.
This report appeared in Pensions & Investments magazine, a Chicago-based sister publication of Tire Business.