The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that James Burns will become a deputy director in the Division of Trading and Markets.
Burns will oversee several of the division’s core regulatory functions, including market oversight and operations, derivatives policy and trading practices, and chief counsel and enforcement liaison functions. He also will contribute to the division’s ongoing implementation of key provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act. In addition, Burns will assist with the overall management of the division, working closely with the Division’s Director Robert Cook and other Deputy Director John Ramsay.
Burns has been a member of SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro’s staff since March 2010, most recently serving as the agency’s deputy chief of staff. Burns advised the chairman on the development and execution of the agency’s rulemaking and policy agenda as well as other key agency initiatives. He also served as counsel to Schapiro on issues involving the Division of Trading and Markets, including the agency’s analysis and response to the Flash Crash on May 6, 2010, and numerous other market structure and Dodd-Frank related rulemakings, studies and programs.
“Jim has played an instrumental role in the implementation of the financial reform legislation and navigating through complex market structure issues,” Schapiro said. “In his new position, he will continue to help put in place the new regulatory regime governing complex derivatives as well as critical market structure improvements.”
Burns is expected to begin his new role in the division in late May. He fills the deputy director position that was vacated by James Brigagliano when he left the agency for the private sector.
Prior to joining the chairman’s staff, Burns was a counsel to Commissioner Kathleen Casey, advising her chiefly on investment management and enforcement matters. Before joining the SEC in 2008, Burns was a securities lawyer in private practice who focused on investment management and broker-dealer regulatory and enforcement matters. He previously served as a law clerk to now-chief Judge William Traxler on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Burns also worked at the American Council on Education and at Oriel College, Oxford University.
Burns received his JD, cum laude, from Georgetown University Law Center. He holds masters and doctoral degrees from Oxford University, and graduated with an AB, magna cum laude, from Harvard College.
Erica Williams replaced burns as the agency’s deputy chief of staff.
Williams has been a member of Schapiro’s staff since February 2011, primarily focusing on enforcement and regulatory issues. Prior to that, Williams served as assistant chief litigation counsel in the Enforcement Division’s trial unit for seven years, leading trial teams in a host of successful prosecutions.
“Erica is well-steeped in the securities laws and has a true grasp of the intricacies of the agency,” Schapiro said. “She also fully embraces the agency’s mission and I am thrilled that she is willing to take on this new responsibility.”
In 2009, Williams was selected by U.S. Senator Ted Kaufman as Federal Employee of the Week. Before coming to the SEC, Williams was a commercial litigator in private practice.
Williams received her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law. She holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Virginia.
The SEC also named James McNamara to the newly-created position of managing executive of the Division of Trading and Markets.
McNamara is currently an assistant director in the SEC’s Office of Financial Management. In his new position, McNamara will be responsible for the administrative and operational aspects of the Division of Trading and Markets, including human resources, budget, information technology and strategic planning.
“The breadth of Jamey’s management experience, including his expertise with respect to managing and improving business processes in the financial, human resources, and IT areas, will be invaluable to the division,” Cook said
McNamara previously worked in the Division of Trading and Markets from 2003 to 2005, when he served as a branch chief for administration. He then moved to the Office of Financial Management and became a branch chief for budget formulation and performance management until 2006, when he left to work in the private sector. McNamara returned to the SEC’s Office of Financial Management in 2010, serving as the agency’s budget officer for a year before becoming an assistant director.
McNamara began his federal service at the U.S. Department of Justice, where he worked for 10 years in positions of increasing responsibility in human resources management and budget formulation in the agency’s largest litigating division.
McNamara received his bachelor’s degree in history from Brown University.