Trump nominates Paul Atkins to head Securities and Exchange Commission – Xinhua

WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) — President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday announced that he has nominated Paul Atkins, a former commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), to be the agency’s chairman. Atkins, the CEO & founder of Patomak Global Partners, a risk management consultancy, served as an SEC commissioner from 2002-2008 under President George W. Bush. The SEC has five commissioners, one of whom is designated as chairman by the president. The president nominates all five commissioners, and their appointments must be approved by the Senate. Founded in 1934 at the height of the Great Depression, the SEC’s mission is to protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation. “Paul is a proven leader for common sense regulations. He believes in the promise of robust, innovative capital markets that are responsive to the needs of Investors, & that provide capital to make our Economy the best in the World,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social. “He also recognizes that digital assets & other innovations are crucial to Making America Greater than Ever Before,” Trump noted. Also on Wednesday, Trump nominated Jared Isaacman, CEO of Shift4 who has led two private spaceflights, as the next administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and Daniel P. Driscoll, a U.S. Army veteran and venture capitalist, to serve as the secretary of the Army. Both positions would need Senate approval. Trump also picked his ex-aide Peter Navarro to serve as senior counselor for trade and manufacturing in his next administration, and appointed David A. Warrington to serve as Assistant to the President and Counsel to the President. ■