On Thursday, President Obama nominated former federal prosecutor Mary Jo White as his next Securities and Exchange Commission chairwoman.?
In a White House ceremony, Obama noted that White had?prosecuted money launderers, mobsters and terrorists. He commented via the New York Times, ?I?d say that?s a pretty good run. You don?t want to mess with Mary Jo. As one former S.E.C. chairman said, Mary Jo does not intimidate easily.?
White will?succeed Elisse B. Walter, a veteran S.E.C. official, who took over the chairwoman reins after the former chairwoman, Mary L. Schapiro, left in December.?
If White is confirmed, she will?be the first former prosecutor to oversee the SEC. The job has typically gone to securities lawyers, regulators and politicians.
It will also represent a second first for the nominee: White was the first female U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. She was in the role from 1993 to 2002 and her cases included prosecuting those involved in the 1993 World Trade Center attack and the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Africa.
Also on Thursday, the president renominated?Richard Cordray for director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Cordray has already held the position through a temporary recess appointment without Senate approval during the last year.