President Barack Obama has nominated Mary Jo White to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
As commissioner of the SEC, White will regulate what happens on Wall Street, but has to be confirmed first by Congress.
White has been considered to be a successful lawyer, but largely represented banks such as Bank of America and Morgan Stanley.
Her nominations has people talking.
"Mary Jo White was a tough, smart, no nonsense, broadly experienced and highly accomplished prosecutor," Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets, a nonprofit group, said in a statement on Huffington Post. "She knew who the bad guys were, went after them and put them in prison when they broke the law. That's what must happen if integrity and investor confidence is to be restored in our securities markets."
"She is a tough, experienced prosecutor, which is exactly what the SEC needs right now to restore investor confidence," said New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
"I hope to hear from her about her commitment to fully implement the critical financial reforms that arose out of the last financial crisis," said Democrat Michigan Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, according to USA Today.
"As with all new nominees, I'm willing to give Mary Jo White the benefit of a doubt as she prepares to take over the helm of the trouble [SEC]," wrote John Wasik on Forbes.
Wasik added, "If White can become a true investor protection advocate, she has my vote. While I'm doubtful that she alone can prevent another Wall Street-fueled meltdown, she can at least look out for the little guy."
He noted 10 particular cases White handled, which is highly recommended to read.
"I was shocked when I heard that Mary Jo White, a former U.S. Attorney and a partner for the white-shoe Wall Street defense firm Debevoise and Plimpton, had been named the new head of the SEC," said Rolling Stones' Matt Taibbi.
"If Barack Obama wanted to send a signal that he's getting tougher on Wall Street, he sure picked a funny way to do it, nominating the woman who helped John Mack [of Morgan Stanley] get off on the slam-dunkiest insider trading case ever to cross an SEC investigator's desk," Taibbi later added.
Clearly, White's nomination has brought mixed opinions to the table. The question now stands if she'll have an easy nomination process or face some tough critics in Congress.
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