SEC swears in Crenshaw, Peirce to fill commission

Caroline Crenshaw was sworn in Monday as the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) second Democratic member, filling out the agency’s five-person panel.

Crenshaw, a former SEC attorney, began her five-year term Monday after the Senate confirmed her earlier this month. She had served as counsel to former Democratic commissioners Robert Jackson Jr. and Kara Stein after stints in the SEC’s Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations and the Division of Investment Management.

President Trump announced his intention to nominate Crenshaw in June to replace Jackson, who stepped down in February. She joins Allison Herren Lee, who joined the SEC in July 2019, as one of two Democratic commissioners.

The SEC also swore in Commissioner Hester Peirce, a Republican, for another term on the commission. She was confirmed by the Senate for another term at the SEC in August after initially joining the commission in 2018 on Trump’s appointment.

Federal law prohibits any more than three SEC commissioners from being affiliated with the same political party.

Updated on Aug. 18 at 1:53 p.m.