Mary Jo White, after nearly four years as the head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission, says that she intends to leave at the end of the Obama Administration.

Under White’s leadership, the SEC strengthened protection for investors against sharp practice with major rule changes that it hoped would remedy problems highlighted by the continuing financial crisis. During her tenure as the SEC's 31st chairperson, she made the commission take a new approach to enforcement that has resulted in greater accountability and record fines through, among other things, the use of admissions of wrongdoing and a heavier emphasis on data analysis and software. She has had her present job since April 2013.