January 5, 2017
The Next SEC Chair is a Deal Lawyer: What Does That Mean for Executive Pay?
– Broc Romanek
I just blogged something lengthy over on TheCorporateCounsel.net about how rare it is for a deal lawyer to be tapped as the SEC Chair. Yesterday, Sullivan & Cromwell’s Jay Clayton was named by President-Elect Trump as Chair White’s successor. As I blogged, Jay won’t likely need to clear much of a hurdle during his Senate confirmation hearings – but given Trump’s posturing during his campaign, he will need to sit through questions about his ties to Goldman Sachs – including his wife’s job there (as noted in this Reuters article).
Some folks asked me yesterday what was “normal” for a SEC Chair. There really isn’t a standard for the job – the backgrounds of former SEC Chairs are all over the lot. A few have worked at the SEC before. Chair Levitt wasn’t a lawyer. Chair White was a prosecutor. Chair Ruder was an academic. Chair Cox was a Congressman. And it’s not the sort of appointment where you read tea leaves from past writings. Obviously, someone’s background plays a role – but the biggest indicator of what a Chair will do is looking at the general direction the President points to…and since Trump has sent us mixed messages what he feels about executive pay, it still really is hard to know where this bus is headed…