When Mary Schapiro steps down as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission on Dec. 14, she’ll leave behind an agency riven by partisanship. It now falls to her successor, Elisse Walter, to carry out President Obama’s agenda over the resistance of Republican commissioners, skeptical conservative judges, and a well-financed financial industry lobby. “You need someone who’s pretty thick-skinned” to move the SEC forward, says Barbara Roper, director of investor protection at the Consumer Federation of America. “Schapiro’s been chairman under the most difficult conditions I’ve seen an SEC chair face in the 25 years I’ve been following these issues.” Read more on Bloomberg Businessweek here.
