© 2015 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden
(April 21) – David Woodcock, the director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Fort Worth Regional office, said Tuesday that “now is the right time to leave.”
Woodcock, who took over the SEC’s regional operations in 2011 following a period of turmoil in the office, said he is resigning his position effective early June.
In an exclusive interview with The Texas Lawbook, Woodcock pointed out that he has four children, including one who starts college this fall. Two other kids are in high school and one is in middle school.
“This has been an absolutely amazing job,” he said. “The past three and a half years have flown by. But I feel that now is the right time to leave. The office is in great shape.”
Woodcock said he has made no career plans regarding his future.
“I’m open. I’m not entirely certain what I want to do, but I am sure that I will talk to a few law firms,” he said.
Woodcock said he is most proud of helping create and lead the SEC’s nationwide Financial Reporting and Audit Task Force.
“We built something in the task force that simply didn’t exist before,” he said. “It is creative, proactive and it is working.”
Woodcock is also credited in the business community for being more visible and approachable than his predecessors.
“The hallmark of David’s tenure was collaboration,” said Steve Korotash, a partner at Morgan, Lewis & Bockius in Dallas and the former deputy director of the SEC’s regional office. “His contribution to national initiatives greatly enhanced the standing of the Fort Worth office. His legacy will unquestionably be the development of the most talented staff in the office’s history.”
SEC Chair Mary Jo White, in a statement, said Associate Director Marshall Gandy, who oversees the office’s examination program, and Associate Director David Peavler, who heads its enforcement program, will serve as co-acting regional directors until a replacement for Woodcock is chosen.
“David has consistently demonstrated exemplary dedication to our mission and great enthusiasm for the work of the Commission,” White said. “We and the investing public have been exceptionally well served by his many contributions to the agency.”
White noted that Woodcock received an Excellence in Leadership Award from the SEC in 2013.
“David certainly raised morale in the office from the lowest it has been in 30 years,” said Ed Tomko, a former SEC enforcement lawyer and now a partner at the Dykema law firm in Dallas.
“He helped to recreate a positive image by putting on programs and by bringing cases,” Tomko said. “He created a period of stability in the office. His leadership will be missed.”
During Woodcock’s tenure, the Fort Worth office has litigated significant enforcement actions including trials that resulted in a jury verdict finding Life Partners, Brian Pardo, and Scott Peden liable for numerous false public filings and a jury verdict finding Charles Kokesh liable for defrauding his firm’s advisory clients and making false public filings.
The Fort Worth office helped institute the first enforcement action under a rule that protects the ability of whistleblowers to report potential securities laws violations to the SEC. The office also brought an emergency action against a Dallas-based trader for “front running” his clients’ trades on hundreds of occasions, and filed a number of enforcement actions against individuals accused of affinity frauds targeting religious, military, and ethnic groups.
The SEC’s Fort Worth office, under Woodcock’s supervision, brought more than a dozen enforcement actions alleging fraud in securities offerings involving purported oil-and-gas ventures.
“David provided steady leadership and raised the profile of the Fort Worth office,” said Toby Galloway, a partner at Kelly Hart & Hallman in Fort Worth and the former lead trial counsel for the SEC. “He will be missed.”
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