Schapiro highlights three economic appointees

President-elect Obama on Thursday appointed three
economic leaders, including the first woman to head the Securities and Exchange
Commission.

New SEC Chairwoman-designate Mary Schapiro is a former
SEC commissioner and more recently has served as chief executive officer of the
Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

{mosads}Obama also named Goldman Sachs partner Gary Gensler as
chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Gensler has also served
as undersecretary of Treasury and senior adviser to the Senate Banking
Committee.

Dan Tarullo, a former senior economic adviser under
President Clinton, will serve on the board of governors at the Federal Reserve
Board. Tarullo is currently a professor at Georgetown University’s law school.

In prepared remarks announcing the appointments, Obama
emphasized shared prosperity in tough economic times.

“That principle is why we put in place common-sense rules
of the road to regulate our market, and it’s why we need to restore and renew
those rules today — so that every American from Wall Street to Main Street can
have the chance to prosper once more,” Obama said. “I have great faith and
confidence in the ability of the team I’ve announced to make this possible.”

During Thursday’s press conference announcing his
selections, Obama said he thinks Americans are “frustrated that there’s not a
lot of adult supervision out there in the financial world or the political world.”

The president-elect said that a number of institutions
have “been asleep at the switch,” and he called for “a shift in ethics on Wall
Street.”

Obama also said he will consider consolidating the CFTC
and the SEC in order to ensure irregularities are not “falling through the
cracks.”

Sam Youngman contributed to this article.