WASHINGTON -- The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that Mary L. Schapiro was sworn in this morning as its 29th chairman.
Chairman Schapiro was appointed by President Barack Obama on Jan. 20 and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate. She is the first woman to serve as the agency's permanent chairman, according to the SEC.
Chairman Schapiro previously served as a commissioner at the SEC from December 1988 to October 1994. She was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, reappointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1989, and named acting chairman by President Bill Clinton in 1993. She left the SEC when President Clinton appointed her chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, where she served until 1996.
Although his appointed term was set to expire in 2010, Christopher Cox resigned as chairman of the SEC on Jan. 20.
