SEC names McHugh acting top fund cop

The Securities and Exchange Commission has named Jennifer McHugh, a senior adviser to Chairman Mary Schapiro, as acting director of the Division of Investment Management, replacing Andrew J. “Buddy” Donohue, who left Nov. 19.

As previously reported, Ms. McHugh’s name came up over the past several weeks as a possible interim replacement because she is considered Ms. Schapiro’s go-to person on a variety of issues. For example, Ms. McHugh has been in charge of the SEC’s study of fiduciary duty, which was mandated under the Dodd-Frank legislation.

Ms. McHugh, an 11-year veteran of the SEC, will keep the position until the commission names a permanent replacement. John Heine, a spokesman at the SEC, declined to comment about when the commission plans to name a replacement.

Given Ms. Schapiro’s track record of tapping outsiders to staff the SEC, it isn’t surprising that Ms. McHugh didn’t get the position on a permanent basis, said David Tittsworth, executive director of the Investment Adviser Association.

For example, last year, Ms. Schapiro hired Henry T.C. Hu, a professor at the University of Texas Law School, as director of the newly established Division of Risk, Strategy and Financial Innovation.

In January, she appointed Carlo V. di Florio, who was a partner at Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP, as director of the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations, replacing Lori Richards.

“Her track record with major appointments has been to look outside the agency and bring in some fresh, innovative thinking,” Mr. Tittsworth said. “That’s what I will expect her to do here, but who that is, I do not know.”

E-mail Jessica Toonkel at [email protected].