As critics debate whether President Obama's nominee for the SEC, Mary Jo White, is the right choice, we take a look at some of the past’s most memorable heads of the agency.
February 01, 2013
William H. Donaldson 2003-2005
After the resignation of his controversial predecessor, Harvey Pitt, William Donaldson became the 27th Chairman of the SEC in February 2003, on the heels of numerous high-profile corporate scandals that left investor confidence badly shaken.
During his tenure, which has been described as the most historic era of the SEC since its creation in 1934, Donaldson oversaw reforms, appointed the first head of the new Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, led an inquiry into how brokerage firms were paid for selling mutual funds, and was involved in the creation of Reg NMS, the series of initiatives designed to modernize and strengthen the national market system for equity securities, which was eventually established in 2007.
