SEC chairman Christopher Cox has appointed new district administrators to head the Commission's Boston and Philadelphia district offices, it was announced Thursday.

David Bergers, as district administrator of the Boston office, will oversee enforcement and examination programs throughout the New England area. He succeeds Walter Ricciardi, who left several months ago to become a deputy director of the SEC's Washington, D.C.-based Division of Enforcement.

Berger has served since 2003 as associate district administrator for enforcement in the Boston office. According to an SEC press release, he had a "key role" in market timing cases against Putnam, MFS, and two subsidiaries of Fleet Boston, and has also led several insider trading investigations. Before joining the Boston district office as an attorney in 1998, he worked as a litigation associate with firms in Boston and Philadelphia, and once served as assistant general counsel of Boston broker-dealer Tucker Anthony Inc.

In Philadelphia, Daniel M. Hawke has been tapped to head the district office, which has responsibility for enforcement and examinations across five states and the District of Columbia. Hawke is currently the office's associate district administrator for enforcement. Joy Thompson, who had served as acting district administrator since last October, will return to her post as associate district administrator for examinations in the Philadelphia office.

Hawke joined the Commission in 1999, first in the Division of Enforcement. The SEC's press release cited several of his most significant undertakings for the Commission, including an action against Arthur Andersen for improper audits of Waste Management, Inc., an action against Banc of America Securities for recordkeeping violations, and a case against Estonian traders who hacked the records of a newswire to retrieve confidential financial information. Before joining the SEC, Hawke worked as a litigation partner in the D.C. firm of Tucker, Flyer and Lewis.  

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