[ by Melanie Gretchen ]

An SEC veteran will serve as the new chief of staff.  Lona Nallengara, who joined the Commission in March 2011, served as deputy director for legal and regulatory policy in Corporation Finance until he was appointed as its acting director in December 2012.

Prior to joining the SEC, Mr. Nallengara, 42, was at Shearman & Sterling LLP in New York, where he was a partner in the Capital Markets practice group and advised public companies and financial institutions on a wide range of capital raising activities.   He also served as the firm's co-hiring partner, co-chair of its associate development committee and international associates and trainees committee, and as a member of the firm's diversity committee. 

At the SEC, Mr. Nallengara has led a series of complex rulemakings by the Division of Corporation Finance stemming from the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act.  As a deputy director, Mr. Nallengara managed the Division of Corporation Finance’s offices of chief counsel, enforcement liaison, international corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and small business policy – and has made qutie a name for himself.

"Lona has been superb in leading the Division and has demonstrated tremendous judgment, intelligence and knowledge.  In my short time here, I have come to appreciate his broad grasp of the agency’s overall agenda and his understanding of the Commission and its mission." -- Mary Jo White, SEC Chair.

For further details, go to [SEC Press Release 2013-88, 5/15/13].