Ex-chair Harvey Pitt also said congressional funding delays were non-existent when he chaired the SEC from 2001 to 2003.
But unlike the other three, Pitt doesn’t see the lack of full-year funding turning off talented staff.
“In today’s economy, with jobs being more difficult, including in the legal sector (which is where most SEC employees fit), I don’t believe the SEC will be unable to hire top prospects,” said Pitt.
He said the biggest obstacle to attracting top job candidates at the SEC now is the future uncertainty about the agency’s leadership following the presidential election.
“Mary Jo White has done an outstanding job as chair, and could be a potential candidate to continue in office, no matter who wins,” said Pitt, who heads up Washington, D.C., financial consulting firm Kalorama Partners.
White hasn’t said whether the budget delays are harming the SEC’s efforts to hire, but she said earlier this summer that an effort by the House of Representatives to cut the agency’s spending by $50 million for 2017 from the previous year’s $1.6 billion would threaten the “tremendous progress” the agency has made in enhancing investor protection after the crisis.