SEC Enforcement leadership shakeup: Waldon departs, Nawaz steps in as Principal Deputy Director
The SEC’s Division of Enforcement is once again reshuffling its top ranks. The agency announced that Sam Waldon, Principal Deputy Director of the Division of Enforcement (Division), will leave the SEC on July 31, 2026, closing out more than 14 years of service. Waldon’s tenure culminated in back-to-back stints as Acting Director of Enforcement in 2025 and 2026, following an Acting Deputy Director role from October 2024 to January 2025 and years spent as Chief Counsel and Assistant Chief Counsel within the Division. His departure comes on the heels of a stretch of leadership turnover at the top of the Division, and it puts a familiar face, Osman Nawaz, back in a senior enforcement post. Nawaz spent 14 years in the Division before departing for Gibson Dunn’s securities enforcement and white-collar practice. Nawaz recently rejoined the SEC and will now succeed Waldon as Principal Deputy Director.
SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and Enforcement Director David Woodcock both offered warm send-offs, praising Waldon’s leadership roles, work ethic, and mentorship of colleagues across the Division. Waldon, for his part, struck a reflective tone, thanking Atkins, Commissioners Hester Peirce and Mark Uyeda, and his Enforcement colleagues. He expressed confidence that the Division is in good hands with Woodcock and Nawaz at the helm. It is a notably collegial exit given the backdrop: Waldon’s rise to Acting Director followed the abrupt resignation of former Division Director Judge Margaret Ryan after just seven months, amid reported friction with agency leadership over the handling of certain enforcement matters.
Nawaz’s return is no less notable. Before his time at Gibson Dunn, Nawaz built a substantial enforcement track record at the SEC, including work on the off-channel communications sweep that yielded more than $2 billion in penalties, the agency’s first action under its updated marketing rule, and a high-profile probe of exchange-traded products. He also served as an Assistant Regional Director in New York and led the Complex Financial Instruments Unit, giving him deep familiarity with the kinds of intricate matters historically prioritized by the Division.
Only time will tell how Nawaz will shape the Division and its agenda. Waldon used his time as Acting Director to emphasize quality over volume, directing the Division’s attention toward investor recovery, insider trading, accounting fraud, market manipulation, and fiduciary breaches, while signaling a more forgiving posture toward companies that self-correct honest mistakes. Nawaz’s appointment suggests the SEC intends to keep that institutional knowledge and philosophy intact even as it works through yet another round of turnover at the top of one of its most closely watched divisions.
