Sec, Staffing | featured news

The U.S. Senate on Monday confirmed former federal prosecutor Mary Jo White as the new head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the agency tasked with policing Wall Street and writing new rules of the road for financial markets.

President Obama will nominate Mary Jo White, a former prosecutor and one-time director of the Nasdaq stock exchange, to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, a White House official said Thursday.

After Mary Miller, a senior Treasury Department official, removed her name from consideration, Sallie L. Krawcheck, a long-time Wall Street executive, has emerged as a potential front-runner to head the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Mary L. Schapiro, who overhauled the Securities and Exchange Commission after the financial crisis, announced on Monday that she was stepping down as chairwoman of the agency. Elisse B. Walter, a commissioner at the S.E.C., is expected to be named to take over the post.