Move over Preet Bharara, now it is SEC Chair Mary Jo White's turn to receive a 10,000-word profile in a mainstream magazine. The November 11, 2013 issue of The New Yorker magazine includes a must-read article on Chair White ("Street Cop") by Nicholas Lemann that provides some fascinating background and insights on the SEC's new leader.
As with the June 2013 Vanity Fair piece on Bharara, The New Yorker article is accompanied by a terrific illustration that is either framed on White's wall already or probably will be by the end of the week (click on the thumbnail below to see a larger version of the illustration):
Lemann's article has some great quotes and anecdotes about White's path to her current position leading the SEC, and her reputation as the most competitive and driven person many of her friends and colleagues have ever encountered. Former SEC Enforcement Director Robert Khuzami, who worked for White during her days leading the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, joked that White “sleeps three hours a night, lives on three ounces of tuna fish a day, and thinks she should have been consulted on where to place the space shuttle.”
The article also provides some interesting information about the culture and significance of the SDNY (or the "Killer Elite," as Lemann describes the SDNY and its alumni) in the white collar and securities enforcement world. Lemann writes that when White, the SDNY's most high-profile lawyer, returned to private practice in 2002,
The firm had to hire someone just to field the client requests for her—not only from banks but also from corporations that were under investigation (Siemens, Hospital Corporation of America), institutions (the National Football League, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany), and famous people (Rosie O'Donnell, Tommy Hilfiger).
Good stuff and highly-recommended!
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