As expected, Gary Gensler will be stepping down as the chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) when the new U.S. administration takes office in January.
The SEC confirmed that Gensler, who was tapped to head the SEC back in April 2021, will be leaving his role on Jan. 20, 2025.
It is common practice for senior officials in U.S. regulatory agencies to be replaced when the government changes hands.
In the immediate aftermath of the U.S. election, it was widely assumed that Gensler would leave the SEC.
A number of possible replacements have been floated, including previous Republican-appointed regulators such as Christopher Giancarlo, Paul Atkins, Daniel Gallagher, Mark Ueyda and Elad Roisman.
Whoever takes the role, it’s expected that the SEC will shift tack from its priorities during Gensler’s tenure. Under his direction, the agency undertook major reforms in a variety of areas such as market structure, while stepping up enforcement and dealing with the rise and fall of the crypto sector.
Increasingly, the agency faced growing pushback from industry firms on a range of issues, including reforms in private markets and proposed climate disclosure rules.
Previously, Gensler chaired the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, worked in the U.S. Treasury and was a partner at Goldman Sachs. Prior to joining the SEC, he was also a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management.