Former Prosecutor Named SEC Enforcement Chief

Hammer in charge. Try your hardest not to look like a nail.

For the first time, the Securities and Exchange Commission plans to have two chiefs running its closely-watched enforcement division, with Andrew Ceresney joining the agency and jointly heading the unit with the office's current leader.

The announcement on Monday comes at a time of particularly high expectations for the agency and its new chairman, Mary Jo White, who has pledged to take a "bold and unrelenting" stance on the enforcement front.

Ceresney, 41, has as reputation as a smart attorney who has been loyal to White for years. As a federal prosecutor, he played a major role on the big cases she handled when she was U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. When White left to join Debevoise & Plimpton a decade ago, he joined her there and became her right hand man.