Cindy Eson and Kate Zoladz will take over as acting co-directors
The Los Angeles Regional Office Director, Michele Layne, will leave the Securities and Exchange Commission this month after more than 27 years of service, the Securities and Exchange Commission stated today. Upon Ms. Layne’s departure, Cindy Eson and Kate Zoladz will take over as acting co-directors.
Gary Gensler, the chair of the SEC, stated, “I salute Michele for her lengthy commitment to public service here at the SEC, where she climbed from a staff attorney in our Division of Enforcement to our Regional Director in Los Angeles. “As one of the SEC’s Regional Directors with the longest tenure, Michele carried out significant efforts to safeguard investors and foster market trust. I would also want to thank Cindy and Kate for taking on the role of acting co-directors for the office.
Gurbir Grewal, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, stated that Michele “has left a huge mark on the Enforcement Division and the SEC at large, from her leadership on major cases to her stewardship of the Los Angeles Regional Office.” “I can’t express how grateful I am for her service, and I wish her luck on her upcoming adventure.”
Richard R. Best, Director of the SEC’s Division of Examinations, said Michele has been a fantastic leader for the Los Angeles Regional Office and has contributed significantly to our ongoing efforts to promote compliance and safeguard American investors. “We are incredibly appreciative of her years of unflinching commitment to the Division’s and agency’s purpose.
I will always be appreciative of the opportunity to have worked with so many excellent public servants at the SEC, Ms. Layne added. The opportunity to oversee the SEC’s Los Angeles employees, who consistently advance the organization’s goal with their remarkable intelligence, innovation, justice, and persistence, has been both an honor and a source of great humility for me.
Ms. Layne has been in charge of all audits, inquiries, and enforcement court cases in the Los Angeles area, which includes Southern California, Arizona, Hawaii, Nevada, and Guam. In the Enforcement Division as a Staff Attorney, she started working for the SEC in 1996. In the Los Angeles office, she first rose to the position of Associate Regional Director for Enforcement before being promoted to Regional Director in 2012. Ms. Layne earned her law degree from the University of Southern California after graduating from the University of California, Los Angeles, with honors and membership in Phi Beta Kappa.
Ms. Eson oversees the examinations program in the Los Angeles office and has the position of Associate Regional Director. She has approximately 28 years of experience at the SEC, serving in the Division of Enforcement as a Staff Attorney, Branch Chief, and Senior Investigative Counsel. In the Division of Examinations, she was appointed Assistant Regional Director in 2013. The University of Miami awarded Ms. Eson a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism, and the University of Miami School of Law awarded her a magna cum laude in law. She holds certification in regulatory and compliance.
Since 2019, Ms. Zoladz has worked as the Los Angeles Regional Office’s Associate Regional Director for Enforcement. In 2010 as a Staff Attorney in the Los Angeles office, she started working for the SEC. After joining the Asset Management Unit of the Enforcement Division in 2017, she was later promoted to Assistant Regional Director in Los Angeles. Ms.
Zoladz graduated from Georgetown University with a magna cum laude bachelor’s degree in international politics and from the University of Pennsylvania Law School with a summa cum laude law degree.
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