Direct Edge, America's newest stock exchange, announced that Tom McManus will assume the role of general counsel, effective Aug. 15, in addition to his current roles as chief compliance officer and chief regulatory officer of its registered exchanges. McManus succeeds Eric Hess, who is leaving the company to pursue other opportunities.

As general counsel, McManus will be responsible for all legal and public policy affairs of the company. He will continue to report to Chief Executive Officer, William O'Brien.

McManus came to Direct Edge in July 2011 from Barclays Capital, where he was head of compliance, Americas, as well as the chief compliance officer of Barclays Capital, and global head of compliance for Barclays Capital's Equities and Prime Services divisions.

Prior to joining Barclays Capital in 2009, McManus was a partner with Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. Earlier, he was with Morgan Stanley for nearly 11 years, serving as managing director and counsel responsible for their Institutional Equity and Prime Brokerage divisions. McManus began his career as an attorney with the SEC's Division of Market Regulation (now the Division of Trading and Markets) in Washington, D.C., and followed that with a position as associate with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in New York.