Why Trump's Election May Have Caused An Executive Exodus At The SEC

Within a week of Donald Trump's surprise election to the highest office in the land, SEC Chair Mary Jo White announced her plans to depart the agency at the end of the Obama administration. Within about a week, three other high ranking officers at the SEC announced that they, too, would be leaving office before the president-elect is sworn in.

White, who became the 31st SEC chair back in 2013, will have held that office for one of the longest tenures ever. Also leaving the SEC will be Matthew Solomon (chief litigation counsel), Stephen Luparello (trading and markets director) and James Schnurr (chief accountant).

Not one of the soon-to-be departed civil servants has identified a reason for leaving office, with the exception of Schnurr, who was involved in a serious bicycle accident and is retiring to focus on his rehabilitation.

Why Abandon Their Posts?

One potential, and some might say probable, cause for the post-election "brain drain" at the SEC may be president-elect Trump's promise to "dismantle" Dodd-Frank bank regulations.

Dodd-Frank legislation, which President Barack Obama signed into law back in 2010, was a series of provisions aimed at protecting consumers and shoring up the stability and dependability of the banking sector. Many critics argue, however, that the legislation has placed undue pressure on banks — from the large multinationals to smaller regionals — to meet its requirements, and thus impeding banks from doing their part to facilitate a robust recovery from the 2008–2009 recession.

It's probably fair to say the SEC leadership would beg to differ. White has spent nearly four years implementing the vast majority of the SEC's mandates under the Dodd-Frank act. Solomon began his tenure as chief litigation counsel under White's leadership, and Luparello was instrumental in the adoption of many Dodd-Frank Title VII rules. Now the Trump team is promising to roll all of that back.

The SEC declined to comment on this issue.