Today, the SEC announced that Kara Novaco Brockmeyer has been named as the new chief of its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Unit in the Enforcement division. The FCPA unit focuses on violations of the anti-bribery provisions of the federal securities laws. Brockmeyer will fill the position vacated by the unit's first-ever chief, Cheryl Scarboro, who announced in early June that she was leaving the agency after 19 years to become a partner at law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP.

Brockmeyer joined the SEC in 2000 and was promoted to Assistant Director in 2005.  In that role, she has supervised a number of complex investigations involving the FCPA, including the agency's investigation of Halliburton Co., KBR Inc., Technip S.A., and ENI S.p.A. for FCPA violations resulting from a long-running bribery scheme in Nigeria.