[ by Melanie Gretchen ]

Another candidate is under consideration for the role of the next chairman of SEC.  After the departure of Mary Schapiro, Sallie Krawcheck advanced her already public profile among other candidates Mary John Miller, the Treasury Department's under secretary for domestic finance, and Richard Ketchum, FINRA's current CEO.  Now another candidate is coming to the fore.

Mary Jo White... was U.S. attorney in Manhattan before joining Debevoise & Plimpton LLP as partner in New York.  If she assumed leadership from interim chair Elisse Walter who took over last month, her background as a prosecutor could change the tone of the agency, which has been run by lawyers experienced in financial policy making and the securities industry.

Ms. White's inexperience as well as her reputation defending corporate clients including Ken Lewis, the former CEO of Bank of America Corp., may present her with the very lack of support facing Ms. Schapiro.  However, working in her favor is the role of her husband, John White, adding to her cache.  He is head of the SEC’s division of corporation finance, which is responsible for disclosure policies, under Republican SEC Chairman Christopher Cox from 2006 to 2008.  Now he's a partner at law firm Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP.

For further details, go to [Bloomberg, 1/18/13] and our Behind the News stories [Sallie Krawcheck: Perhaps The Frontrunner As SEC Chair] and [SEC Commissioner Designate Ponders Next Move].