Chairmen and Commissioners

The SEC has five Commissioners who are appointed by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the Senate. Their terms last five years and are staggered so that one Commissioner's term ends on June 5 of each year. To ensure that the SEC remains non-partisan, no more than three Commissioners may belong to the same political party. The President also designates one of the Commissioners as Chairman, the SEC's top executive.

President   Commissioner   Dates of Service as Commissioner   Dates of Service as Chairman
ROOSEVELT   Joseph P. Kennedy   1934-35   1934-35
    George C. Mathews   1934-40   -
    James M. Landis   1934-37   1935-37
    Robert E. Healy   1934-46   -
    Ferdinand Pecora   1934-35   -
    J.D. Ross   1935-37   -
    William O. Douglas   1936-39   1937-39
    Jerome N. Frank   1937-41   1939-41
    John W. Hanes   1938   -
    Edward C. Eicher   1938-42   1941-42
    Leon Henderson   1939-41   -
    Sumner T. Pike   1940-46   -
    Ganson Purcell   1941-46   1942-46
    Edmund Burke, Jr.   1941-43   -
    Robert H. O'Brien   1942-44   -
    Robert K. McConnaughey   1943-49   -
    James J. Caffrey   1945-47   1946-47
             
TRUMAN   Richard B. McEntire   1946-53   -
    Edmond M. Hanrahan   1946-49   1948-49
    Harry A. McDonald   1947-52   1949-52
    Paul R. Rowen   1948-55   -
    Donald C. Cook   1949-53   1952-53
    Edward T. McCormick   1949-51   -
    Robert I. Millonzi   1951-52   -
    Clarence H. Adams   1952-56   -
    J. Howard Rossbach   1952-53   -
             
EISENHOWER   Ralph H. Demmler   1953-55   1953-55
    J. Sinclair Armstrong   1953-57   1955-57
    A.J. Goodwin, Jr.   1953-55   -
    Andrew Downey Orrick   1955-60   -
    Harold C. Patterson   1955-60   -
    Earl F. Hastings   1956-61   -
    James C. Sargent   1956-60   -
    Edward N. Gadsby   1957-61   1957-61
    Byron D. Woodside   1960-67   -
    Daniel J. McCauley   1960-61   -
             
KENNEDY   J. Allen Frear, Jr.   1961-63   -
    William L. Cary   1961-64   1961-64
    Manuel F. Cohen   1961-69   1964-69
    Jack M. Whitney II   1961-64   -
             
JOHNSON   Hugh F. Owens   1964-73   -
    Hamer H. Budge   1964-71   1969-71
    Francis M. Wheat   1964-69   -
    Richard B. Smith   1967-71   -
             
NIXON   James J. Needham   1969-72   -
    Albert Sydney Herlong   1969-73   -
    William J. Casey   1971-73   1971-73
    Philip A. Loomis, Jr.   1971-82   -
    John R. Evans   1973-83   -
    G. Bradford Cook   1973   1973
    Ray Garrett, Jr.   1973-75   1973-75
    A.A. Sommer, Jr.   1973-76   -
    Irving M. Pollack   1974-80   -
             
FORD   Roderick M. Hills   1975-77   1975-77
             
CARTER   Harold M. Williams   1977-81   1977-81
    Roberta S. Karmel   1977-80    
    Stephen J. Friedman   1980-81   -
    Barbara S. Thomas   1980-83   -
             
REAGAN   John S.R. Shad   1981-87   1981-87
    Bevis Longstreth   1981-84   -
    James C. Treadway, Jr.   1982-85   -
    Charles C. Cox   1983-89   -
    Charles L. Marinaccio   1984-85   -
    Aulana L. Peters   1984-88   -
    Joseph A. Grundfest   1985-90   -
    Edward H. Fleischman   1986-92   -
    David S. Ruder   1987-89   1987-89
    Mary L. Schapiro   1988-94   -
             
BUSH   Richard C. Breeden   1989-93   1989-93
    Philip R. Lochner, Jr.   1990-91   -
    Richard Y. Roberts   1990-95   -
    J. Carter Beese, Jr.   1992-94   -
             
CLINTON   Arthur Levitt, Jr.   1993-2001   1993-2001
    Steven Wallman   1994-97   -
    Norman S. Johnson   1996-2000   -
    Isaac C. Hunt, Jr.   1996-2002   -
    Paul R. Carey   1997-2001   -
    Laura S. Unger  

1997-2002

   -
             
BUSH   Harvey L. Pitt   2001-03   2001-03
    Cynthia Glassman   2002-06   -
    Paul Atkins   2002-08   -
    Roel Campos   2002-07   -
    Harvey Goldschmid   2002-05   -
    William H. Donaldson   2003-05   2003-05
    Christopher Cox   2005-09   2005-09
    Annette L. Nazareth   2005-08    
    Kathleen L. Casey   2006-11    
    Luis A. Aguilar   2008-15    
    Troy A. Paredes   2008-13    
    Elisse B. Walter   2008-13   2012-13
             
OBAMA   Mary L. Schapiro   2009-12   2009-12
    Daniel M. Gallagher   2011-15    
    Mary Jo White   2013-17   2013-17
    Michael S. Powowar   2013-    
    Kara M. Stein   2013-    

Back to Papers