The return of Donald Trump to the presidency this week also brought immediate changes to the leadership of the key regulator of the asset management industry.

Mark Toshiro Uyeda U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Acting Chair (R)

On Monday (January 20), President Trump revealed that he has chosen Mark Uyeda (a Republican SEC commissioner and 19-year SEC veteran) to serve as acting chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), succeeding Gary Gensler. Then yesterday (January 21), Uyeda revealed that he has picked Hester Peirce (currently the regulatory agency's other Republican commissioner) to lead a brand new "crypto task force" for "developing a comprehensive and clear regulatory framework for crypto assets," with help from a pair of Uyeda's top advisors.

Hester Peirce U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Commissioner

Peirce and Uyeda's appointments come as Trump's more permanent (i.e. non-acting) SEC chair nominee (Paul Atkins) awaits Senate confirmation and as several senior SEC staffers are moving on. And thanks to another commissioner's departure, the agency is currently down to three commissioners (out of five seats total).

"I have great respect for the knowledge, expertise, and experience of the agency and its people," Uyeda states about his elevation to acting chair. "The SEC has a vital mission — protecting investors, maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitating capital formation — that plays a key role in promoting innovation, jobs creation, and the American Dream."

Taylor Asher (currently senior policy advisor to Uyeda) will serve as chief policy advisor to Peirce's new crypto task force. Richard Gabbert (currently senior advisor to Uyeda) will serve as the task force's chief of staff.

"I look forward to the efforts of Commissioner Peirce to lead regulatory policy on crypto, which involves multiple SEC divisions and offices," Uyeda states.

"This undertaking will take time, patience, and much hard work. It will succeed only if the Task Force has input from a wide range of investors, industry participants, academics, and other interested parties," Peirce states. "We look forward to working hand-in-hand with the public to foster a regulatory environment that protects investors, facilitates capital formation, fosters market integrity, and supports innovation."

Meanwhile, in the days prior to the presidential handoff and Gensler's departure, several top SEC staffers said goodbye or revealed plans to do so. Those exiting include:

Sanjay Wadhwa, Acting Director of the Division of Enforcement, who will leave on January 31 after succeeding the Gurbir Grewal on October 11;

Scott Schneider, director of the SEC's Office of Public Affairs (OPA) and counselor to the chair, who will leave in February;

Corey Klemmer, Policy Director, who appears to have left last Friday (January 17); and

Amanda Fischer, Chief of Staff, who also appears to have left last Friday.

Peirce and Uyeda have both repeatedly pushed back against the SEC's concerns about cryptocurrency, and they successfully championed the approval of spot bitcoin ETPs (which debuted a year ago, followed later by spot ether ETPs). Uydea and Peirce also fought (unsuccessfully) against Gensler's new money market fund regs in 2023.

Uyeda joined the SEC in 2006, serving on the staff of one SEC chair (Jay Clayton) and two non-chair commissioners (Michael Piwowar and Atkins) before becoming a commissioner himself in June 2022. Before his time at the regulatory agency, Uyeda served as chief advisor to the California Corporations Commissioner (that state's SEC equivalent), and he worked at the law firms of Kirkpatrick & Lockhart and O'Melveny & Myers. He is an alumnus of the Duke University School of Law and of Georgetown University.

Peirce rejoined the SEC in 2018 as a commissioner, after being nominated first by then-President Obama in 2015 and then being renominated by Trump in 2017. She previously served as senior research fellow and financial markets working group director at George Mason University's Mercatus Center and as a member of the SEC's investor advisory committee. Earlier, she, too was an SEC staffer and worked with Atkins. She also served as a U.S. Senate staffer and worked with the law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering. She is an alumna of Yale Law School and of Case Western Reserve University.

Asher joined the SEC in 2023 after also serving as a Senate staffer. He is an alumnus of George Mason University and of Tulane University's A.B. Freeman School of Business.

Gabbert has spent more than 13 years with the SEC in a variety of roles, most recently as counsel to Peirce. Earlier, he worked with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and with Heller Ehrman LLP. He is an alumnus of the University of Chicago Law School.

Wadhwa has spent more than 21 years with the SEC in a variety of roles, and he rose to deputy director of the enforcement division in 2021 before becoming acting director last fall. Earlier, he worked with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meadher & Flom LLP and Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP. He is an alumnus of the New York University School of Law, of the South Texas College of Law Houston, and of Florida Atlantic University.

Schneider, another ex-Senate staffer, joined the SEC in 2021 after working with Ketchum and the CFTC. He is an alumnus of the Wharton School, the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, and the University of Redlands.

Klemmer rose to policy director last year after joining the SEC in 2021. Earlier, she worked with Domini Impact Investments, the AFL CIO, the Lambert Firm, Sanford J Lewis, and Advocates for Environmental Human Rights. She is an alumna of Tulane University Law School and Amherst College.

Fischer rose to chief of staff in 2023 after also joining the SEC in 2021. A longtime House and Senate staffer, she also worked with the Washington Center for Equitable Growth and the Biden-Harris Transition Team. She is an alumna of Georgetown University and of the University of Buffalo. 

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