[ by Melanie Gretchen ]

Mary Jo White's appointment as Chair of the SEC follows decades of ground-breaking experience on her part.  Not only is she the only woman to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York in its 200-year-plus history, her office convicted the terrorists responsible for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and the bombings of American embassies in Africa: once-in-a-lifetime event after once-in-a-lifetime event.

Ms. White finished her undergraduate degree degree, Phi Beta Kappa, from William & Mary in 1970, and her master’s degree in psychology from The New School for Social Research in 1971.  While receiving her law degree in 1974 at Columbia Law School, she was an officer of the Law Review and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Marvin E. Frankel of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

At Debevoise & Plimpton in New York, she climbed up the corporate ladder, starting as an associate from 1976 to 1978.  Within 5 years, she became a litigation partner from 1983 to 2000, before assuming the role of chair of the litigation department, managing more than 200 lawyers.  From there, she served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York from 1978 to 1981 and became Chief Appellate Attorney of the Criminal Division.  From 1990 to 1993, she served as the First Assistant U.S. Attorney and later Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.  Since then, she has also served as a director of The NASDAQ Stock Exchange.

Of course the question at hand is how her experience will apply to the SEC.  However, there's no question in our minds at C-I as to whether she's well versed.  During her career, awards for her work as a prosecutor and a securities lawyer include the George W. Bush Award for Excellence in Counterterrorism, the Sandra Day O’Connor Award for Distinction in Public Service, and the "Women of Power and Influence Award" given by the National Organization for Women.

For further details, go to [SEC, 4/10/13].

To contact Melanie Gretchen: melanie@compliance-insights.com.