Jerry Hodgkins spoke with Law.com about the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission tapping Monique Winkler as regional director of its San Francisco office, who was formerly part of the enforcement division. With respect to potential reasons most regional directors come from the enforcement side, Jerry explained that regional office enforcement staff can get almost weekly interaction with the commission.
“Enforcement actions that are recommended by the staff have to be approved by the commission, and so they have to go directly to the commission for every single action, and that could be as many as 500 a year,” Jerry said.
Jerry said he’s also observed an increase in filling the regional director from outside agencies in the last few years. “They might not want to have that decision they have to make after their time is up as regional director … they have to either go back down to an older job, basically be demoted, or go out,” he said. He mentioned he’s heard there are now term limits for some regional directors, which might discourage internal candidates from raising their hand for the position. “Some people probably enjoy their work so much at the SEC that they don’t want to leave,” he said.
He added that the agency in general is more familiar with outside candidates and leaders at the division and director levels might be more comfortable with the idea of outside hires.
Referring to San Francisco, Jerry explained that for a regional office of its size, “they punch above their weight, and I think they’ll continue to do so with Monique at the helm.”
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