Chief Economist and Director at SEC’s DERA will leave after just under two years at the Commission.
SP Kothari, Chief Economist and Director of the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis (DERA) at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is set to leave the SEC by the end of January 2021.
Kothari joined SEC in March 2019 and has led several groups of economists, data scientists, and other professionals, seeking to improve SEC’s mission of protecting investors, maintaining fair and efficient markets, and facilitating capital formation through rigorous data analytics and sound economic analysis.
During his tenure, DERA interacted across the spectrum of the agency’s mission area constituting rulemaking, examination, and enforcement.
SEC Chairman Jay Clayton said: “As Chief Economist, SP [Kothari] has raised the profile of the SEC, both domestically and internationally, on multiple topics affecting investors and our markets, including within the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, the Financial Stability Oversight Council, and the Financial Stability Board.”
Clayton observed that Kothari achieved this by presenting a unique combination of sophisticated macroeconomic analysis and market pragmatism combined with a knack for making complicated market and economic commentary accessible to all. During the Covid-19 related market stress of March and April, Kothari’s “indispensable skills were exhibited through his subsequent work leading the Interconnectedness Initiative and also through his and his division’s various accomplishments,” Clayton said.
Kothari said: “I have been honored to lead the Division of Economic and Risk Analysis over the last two years. It has been a great privilege and tremendously rewarding to work with everyone here.”
