(Article from Registered Funds Regulatory Update, April 2026)
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On March 16, 2026, the SEC announced Judge Margaret A. Ryan’s resignation from her role as Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, after having been appointed to that office last September. SEC Chair Paul Atkins stated that “[u]nder her leadership, the division reprioritized enforcing the nation’s securities laws, with a focus on pursuing fraud.” During her tenure, the Division focused on prioritizing cases involving misconduct, such as fraud, market manipulation, and breaches of trust to investors, with less emphasis on standalone compliance violations.
On April 8, 2026, the SEC announced David Woodcock’s appointment as the Director of the Division, effective May 4, 2026. SEC Chair Paul Atkins welcomed Woodcock, noting his “experience as a senior officer at the SEC, global law firm partner, a certified public accountant, and senior in-house corporate attorney” and as “a foremost expert in all relevant facets of securities law [with] deep institutional knowledge.” Woodcock is currently a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, where he also serves as chair of the firm’s Securities Enforcement Practice Group. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Law at Texas A&M University School of Law teaching securities, ethics, and compliance. Woodcock previously served as a senior in-house corporate attorney at Exxon Mobil Corporation. From 2011 to 2015, he served as Director of the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office overseeing investigations of the SEC’s enforcement program, a member of the Enforcement Advisory Committee, and created and served as Chair of the SEC’s cross-office and cross-division Financial Reporting and Audit Task Force.
Sam Waldon, who served as Acting Director of the Division since March, will continue to serve until May 4.
SEC Press Release, SEC Announces Enforcement Division Director Judge Margaret A. Ryan Has Resigned From Agency (Mar. 16, 2026), available at:
https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2026-27-sec-announces-enforcement-division-director-judge-margaret-ryan-has-resigned-agency.
SEC Press Release, SEC Appoints David Woodcock as Director of the Division of Enforcement
(Apr. 8, 2026), available at:
https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2026-35-sec-appoints-david-woodcock-director-division-enforcement.