WASHINGTON – The Senate voted 85 to 14 on Wednesday, mostly along party lines, to confirm Republican Elad Roisman to become a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission for a term expiring June 5, 2023.
Roisman, who must be sworn into office, was the Senate Banking Committee’s chief counsel since January 2017 and its senior counsel beginning in June 2014. He was counsel to former SEC Commissioner Daniel Gallagher from December 2012 to June 2014.
He is mostly experienced with equities, corporate debt, and derivatives but touched on municipal securities when he was with Gallagher, who is now chief legal officer for Mylan, a global pharmaceutical company.
He will join the SEC as it considers a controversial Best Interest Rule, which could end up replacing the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule for brokers and advisors.
Roisman replaces former SEC Commissioner Michael Piwowar who left the commission in July.
Piwowar was just appointed as executive director of the nonprofit think tank, the Milken Institute Center for Financial Markets, according to a press release the Institute issued Wednesday. He will be based in Washington, D.C.
Before joining the SEC, Roisman was chief counsel at the NYSE Euronext, a Euro-American multinational financial services corporations that operated multiple securities exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange.
From October 2006 to July 2010 he was an associate at the law firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, where he specialized in corporates as well as mergers and acquisitions.
He has a law degree from Boston University School of Law and a bachelor's degree from Cornell University.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has not yet formally nominated a Democrat to replace Commissioner Kara Stein, who is expected to leave the SEC sometime this year.
There was speculation in early August that the White House was strongly considering former SEC enforcement lawyer Allison Lee for the job, but there has yet to be an announcement.
