The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s next Enforcement Division Director will be David Woodcock, a partner at Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and former SEC Regional Officer Director.

Woodcock will take over from Judge Margaret “Meg” Ryan, who resigned from the role only months after being appointed to the position. Deputy Director Sam Waldon stepped in as the division’s interim director and will continue in that role until May 4.

In a statement about Woodcock’s appointment, Atkins referenced the division’s “significant course correction” in which he argued the agency was  prioritizing “cases that provide meaningful investor protection and strengthen market integrity.”

“I am incredibly pleased to have David rejoin the SEC at this critical time, as we continue to focus on the types of misconduct that inflict the greatest harm to investors,” Atkins said.

Woodcock is currently a partner in Gibson Dunn’s Dallas and Washington, D.C. offices, where he chairs the firm’s Securities Enforcement Practice Group. 

Related:SEC Enforcement Drops Amid Post Biden ‘Course Correction’

Between 2011 and 2015, Woodcock was the director for the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office, where he oversaw enforcement and examination division staffers and served as a member of the Enforcement Advisory Committee. During his tenure, Woodcock also created the SEC’s cross-office, cross-divisional Financial Reporting and Audit Task Force, intended to enhance the agency’s ability to detect and prosecute accounting and false financial statement violations.

Woodcock then became a partner at Jones Day between 2015 and 2020, specializing in securities litigation and SEC enforcement. Woodcock then joined ExxonMobil as an assistant general counsel for corporate, where he specialized in securities, ESG/sustainability and governance issues. 

At Gibson Dunn, Woodcock focused on internal investigations and SEC defenses, counseling advisors and private equity funds, while also handling corporate compliance, financial reporting and audit/special committee investigations.

Woodcock is succeeding Ryan, a former active-duty U.S. Marine Corps communications officer and judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. Ryan (who was named one of Wealth Management’s “10 to Watch” for 2026) was expected to bring a steady hand to enforcement priorities amid a shifting ideological perspective, fewer resources and a potentially demoralized agency workforce. 

Earlier this year, Ryan decried rumors that the SEC’s enforcement arm was falling short, telling an audience of Los Angeles Bar Association members that notions that the enforcement at the SEC “has been tossed to the wayside are not only exaggerated but flat out wrong.” Nevertheless, her resignation after only six months came as a shock, as enforcement directors typically have longer tenures. According to Reuters, prior to her resignation, Ryan clashed with agency leaders about its enforcement program, including those cases tied to President Donald Trump and his family.

Related:Wall Street Watchdogs Pull Back Amid Trump’s Deregulatory Push

Woodcock’s appointment comes the same week the agency released its Fiscal Year 2025 Enforcement Report, which showed a 22% year-over-year drop in enforcement actions. 

According to the commission’s statement on the report, the lower numbers could be partially attributed to changes from the Biden administration, in which the agency claimed: “resources have been misapplied … to pursue media headlines and run up numbers.”