TPG deputy CCO joins SEC exam team

Maryellen Maurer’s move from the buyout giant to the US regulator comes despite reports that the SEC has not been recruiting private equity talent. 

TPG Capital’s deputy chief compliance officer Maryellen Maurer has joined the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a securities compliance examiner, pfm has confirmed. The move comes amid recent speculation as to whether or not the SEC has been actively recruiting private equity professionals.

Just last week, a source close to the SEC told pfm that the Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations (OCIE) was not currently recruiting additional private equity personnel.

“Private equity experts might be being hired for other SEC offices or divisions, but that is not what the OCIE is looking for right now,” said a source familiar with the matter.

During his speech at the PEI Private Fund Compliance Forum in May, OCIE director Andrew Bowden revealed that the exam division was forming an industry taskforce (the Private Funds Working Group) and stated that the OCIE had “added individuals with private equity expertise to our team” in order to better inspect registered investment advisers in the private funds space. The comment was presumably in reference to Igor Rozenblit, the commission’s in-house private equity specialist who captains the new unit.

In September interview with pfm, Rozenblit said that the SEC had chosen to fill the 13-person unit with long-time examiners who are learning the private fund model, rather than starting with industry practitioners and turning them into examiners. The SEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.