SEC General Counsel & Senior Policy Director David M. Becker is leaving the Commission at the end of February following a 2-year committment. He is returning to the private sector. Mr. Becker has been the agency’s chief legal officer and a senior advisor to Chairman Mary L. Schapiro since February 2009. During his tenure, Becker has help shape most of the SEC’s major policy and regulatory initiatives and was a key adviser on all issues before it.

Mr. Becker previously served as General Counsel under Chairmen Harvey Pitt and Arthur Levitt. He first joined the SEC staff in October 1998 as Deputy General Counsel. In January 2000, Mr. Becker was elevated to General Counsel. Upon leaving the Commission in 2002, he served as a partner at the law firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP.   [SEC PR 11-34, 2/1]