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Mary Jo White

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This page is about the attorney and civil servant; for the Pennsylvania State Senator, see Mary Jo White (Pennsylvania politician).
Mary Jo White
31st Chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission
Incumbent
Assumed office
April 10, 2013
PresidentBarack Obama
Preceded byElisse Walter
Personal details
Born (1947-09-27) September 27, 1947 (age 77)
Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic
Alma materCollege of William & Mary
The New School
Columbia University

Mary Jo White (born December 27, 1947) is the 31st and current Chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. She was the first woman to be United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, serving from 1993 to 2002.[1] On January 24, 2013, President Barack Obama nominated White to replace Elisse B. Walter as Chairwoman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.[2] She was confirmed by the Senate on April 8, 2013 and was sworn into office on April 10, 2013.[3]

Life and career

White was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and grew up in McLean, Virginia. She received her B.A. from the College of William & Mary in 1970. She earned her M.A. in psychology in 1971 from The New School for Social Research[4] and her law degree from Columbia Law School in 1974,[1] where she was a Writing & Research Editor of the Columbia Law Review.

White became Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York in December 1992, and in March 1993 was appointed by President Bill Clinton as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District. She is noted for having overseen prosecutions of John Gotti and the terrorists responsible for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, chief among them Ramzi Yousef.

New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told CBS correspondent Scott Pelley that the World Trade Center attack in 1993 "should have been a huge wake-up call for us (terrorism)." White, however, played down the attack as a criminal act.[5]

After President Clinton's controversial last day presidential pardons, she was appointed by new Attorney General John Ashcroft to investigate Marc Rich's pardon.[1]

For the past 10 years, she has been chair of the litigation department at Debevoise & Plimpton.[6] In this regard, The Huffington Post noted, "If she is confirmed by Congress, the agency will have at its helm a well-respected attorney who won high-profile cases against mobsters, terrorists and financial fraudsters over the course of nearly a decade as the U.S. attorney for Manhattan."[7]

It has been asserted summarily in Rolling Stone magazine that, among other duties at Debevoise, White has used her influence and connections to protect certain Wall Street CEOs from prosecution,[8] including a notable case involving the firing of Gary J. Aguirre for investigations into the CEO of Morgan Stanley executive John J. Mack.

References

  1. ^ a b c 2001 CNN profile of Mary Jo White CNN. (February 6, 2001). Retrieved February 24, 2011
  2. ^ "Mary Jo White, Obama Pick to Head SEC". huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  3. ^ "Senate confirms White to head SEC". boston.com. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
  4. ^ "Mary Jo White: Good Cop or Bad Cop for Wall Street?". Forbes.com. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  5. ^ http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7382324n, September 25, 2011 1:38 PM
  6. ^ "Mary Jo White -- Debevoise bio". Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  7. ^ Mary Jo White, Obama Pick to Head SEC...., The Huffington Post. Mark Gongloff contributed reporting. January 25, 2013. Retrieved January 31, 2013.
  8. ^ "Why Isn't Wall Street In Jail". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
Political offices
Preceded by Chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission
2013–present 		Incumbent

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