SEC names McHugh acting top mutual fund cop

The Securities and Exchange Commission has named Jennifer McHugh, a senior adviser to Chairman Mary Schapiro, the acting director of the Division of Investment Management, replacing Andrew J. “Buddy” Donohue, who left his post on Nov. 19. As previously reported in InvestmentNews, Ms. McHugh's name came up over the past several weeks as a possible interim replacement for Mr. Donohue 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 Dodd-Frank. Ms. McHugh, an 11-year veteran of the SEC, will keep the position until the SEC names a permanent replacement for Mr. Donohue, the agency said in a statement. John Heine, a spokesman at the SEC, declined to comment on when the agency planned to name a replacement. Given Ms. Schapiro's track record of tapping outsiders to staff the agency, it's not surprising Ms. McHugh did not 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 agency's 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.”