Former Senate Republican aide Hester Maria Peirce is Donald Trump’s intended nominee to serve as SEC Commissioner, according to a statement from the White House. Ms. Peirce is a former Senate Banking Committee staff member and currently is director of the Financial Markets Working Group at George Mason University's Mercatus Center. She was nominated to the SEC last year by Obama, but the full Senate never acted on her nomination.

Ms. Peirce’s 2016 nomination was initially blocked by Democrats because she declined to fully commit to requiring corporations to publicly disclose their political donations. This year, she could face more resistance – in part from Senator Elizabeth Warren. Ms. Peirce, a member of the Federalist, recently edited and contributed to a book published by the right-leaning Mercatus Center that called for totally restructuring the country's financial regulation.

MS. PEIRCE'S CREDENTIALS.  Hester Peirce is a Senior Research Fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and director of the Financial Markets Working Group. Her primary research interests relate to the regulation of the financial markets.

Before joining Mercatus, Peirce served on Senator Richard Shelby’s staff on the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs. Peirce served at the SEC as a staff attorney and as counsel to Commissioner Paul Atkins. 

[Financialish Note: Mr. Atkins was a favored advisor during Trump’s candidacy and served as an adviser to Trump’s transition team.]

Before that, she clerked for Judge Roger Andewelt on the Court of Federal Claims and was an associate at a Washington, DC law firm. Hester Peirce currently serves on the Investor Advisory Committee, which advises the SEC. She earned her JD from Yale Law.  [Source: Mercatus Center]