Politics | Mary Schapiro Obama Picks First Woman to Lead SEC Veteran regulator Mary Schapiro will take over agency By John Johnson Posted Dec 17, 2008 5:56 PM CST Copied Mary Schapiro of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority speaks during a summit on investment fraud targeting seniors, Monday, Sept. 10, 2007, in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari) Barack Obama has made his pick for a new leader of the SEC, currently under siege for its failure to detect the massive fraud of Bernard Madoff, the Wall Street Journal reports. Obama is expected to announce tomorrow that Mary Schapiro—a former commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission—will be the first permanent female chief of Wall Street's top regulator. Schapiro, 53, currently runs the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, a non-government regulator of securities firms, the Journal notes. She will take over the SEC at a time of upheaval. In addition to the Madoff scandal, the SEC has taken heat for its lax oversight of Wall Street banks. Read These Next New York Times ranks the best movies of the 21st century. A man has been deported for kicking an airport customs beagle. White House rolls with Trump's 'daddy' nickname. Actor Sam Rockwell gets residuals from movie he wasn't in. Report an error