Kevin Lamarque/ReutersJudd A. Gregg will become chief executive of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. At Wall Street’s lobbying outfit, a revolving door continues to spin.
On Monday, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association announced that Judd A. Gregg, a former senator, would become the group’s chief executive. Mr. Gregg, a Republican from New Hampshire who served three terms in the Senate, will now become the face of Wall Street’s effort to soften financial regulation.
Mr. Gregg is the latest onetime government official to join the lobbying group, which has become something of a bridge between Wall Street and Washington. Mr. Gregg will succeed Timothy Ryan Jr., a former federal regulator who joined JPMorgan Chase earlier this year. Kenneth E. Bentsen Jr., a former Democratic representative who was acting as the group’s interim chief in recent months, will become president.
The shake-up comes at a pivotal time for Wall Street lobbyists. Federal regulators are finalizing hundreds of new rules for Wall Street under the Dodd-Frank Act, the overhaul passed in response to the financial crisis. Wall Street objects to many of the rules, which impose changes on the mortgage market, derivatives trading and other profitable corners of the industry.
“We are facing a great many challenges,” Mr. Gregg said in a statement, “and I look forward to working with legislators and regulators together as we improve our economy and the lives of our citizens.”
Mr. Gregg has a résumé built for influencing Washington. After two terms as governor of New Hampshire and eight years in the House of Representatives, Mr. Gregg became a senator focused on fiscal issues. At one point, he was the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee. After retiring in 2010, he served as an “international adviser” for Goldman Sachs.
Mr. Bentsen, a former investment banker from Texas, was in the House from 1995 to 2003. There he sat on the House Financial Services Committee and the House Budget Committee.
“I look forward to working with Judd and our members as we promote effective and efficient markets, at home and abroad,” Mr. Bentsen said in the statement.