Teresa Goody Guillén, a veteran of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, is among the candidates president-elect Donald Trump is considering to lead the agency, people familiar with the situation said.
Goody Guillén is a partner at law firm BakerHostetler and co-lead of its blockchain practice. Crypto companies are privately advocating for her to head the regulator based on her experience serving the SEC and opposing the agency on behalf of blockchain companies and traditional Wall Street firms.
“She is the best candidate of all the people that are currently being opined on,” said Brendan Playford, co-founder of Masa, a token-powered decentralized data provider for AI companies. Goody Guillén would make immediate changes to the SEC, he said.
“She has a clear understanding of the laws, has a clear understanding of the way the SEC works,” Playford said. “We would just have an instant change maker that would dramatically transform the industry with someone that’s very pro-crypto.”
Goody Guillén declined to comment for this story. A request for comment from Trump transition team spokesperson Karoline Leavitt went unanswered.
Crypto professionals have the Trump team’s ear in the selection process following a campaign in which the industry spent over $130 million on the former president and other Republican candidates. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong reportedly met privately with Trump to discuss personnel appointments.
Goody Guillén enters a competitive shortlist to replace SEC chair Gary Gensler, who began referring to his job in the past tense last week and is expected to step down before Trump’s inauguration on January 20. SEC chairs customarily resign during the transition to a new administration. On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to “fire” Gensler on the first day of his presidency.
Other SEC chair candidates reportedly include Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP partner Robert Stebbins, Paul Hastings partner Brad Bondi, former SEC commissioner Paul Atkins, Robinhood chief legal officer Dan Gallagher, and former acting Comptroller of the Currency Brian Brooks.
‘Tough as hell’
According to her LinkedIn page, Goody Guillén was an attorney for the Office of the General Counsel at the SEC from 2009 to 2011, when Mary Shapiro became the first woman to head the agency.
Later, as chief operating officer and managing director at Kalorama Partners, Goody Guillén worked with former SEC chair Harvey Pitt advising clients against SEC enforcement cases..
The Trump transition team is seeking an overhaul of the SEC and looking for a pro-business non-bureaucrat who will unwind the expanded agency created under Gensler’s tenure, and end the practice of “regulation by enforcement action,” according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
In terms of crypto, the Trump team wants someone who understands the industry and will exercise restraint when it comes to applying securities laws to digital assets until clear legislation is passed by Congress, the sources said,
Peers described Goody Guillén as embodying these principles.
“She is understated … but she’s tough as hell,” said Charley Cooper, senior advisor at digital asset solutions provider R3 and a former chief operating officer at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission. “She would govern based on substantive understanding of securities laws as they apply to the traditional markets, as well as to crypto, and she will dramatically roll back the prior administration’s default to regulating through enforcement and arbitrarily reading into statutes written 90 years ago.”
Nicole Trudeau, general counsel for investment firm Wave Digital Assets, has worked with Goody Guillén on a number of crypto-related bankruptcies and SEC receiverships.
“Teresa is a true trailblazer in the crypto space, bringing the expertise and vision needed to lead the SEC and drive the growth of U.S. crypto and capital markets,” said Trudeau. “She embodies everything President Trump envisioned for the sector.”
Wasting no time
Unlike the first Trump administration, this second term selection process is rapid and organized, Washington insiders said. An SEC chair is expected to be chosen before Thanksgiving.
Trump has named his transition team co-chair, Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick, as commerce secretary. Earlier, Lutnick was fiercely jockeying to become treasury secretary, which now looks to be going to Key Square Group founder Scott Bessent, Apollo Global Management CEO Mark Rowan or former Federal Reserve governor Kevin Warsh, who are top contenders.
Trump has already announced several distinctive and controversial picks, including U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) for attorney general, which will likely meet resistance from Congress due to sex trafficking allegations.
Former Fox News host Pete Hegseth has been tapped for Defense secretary, former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hi.) for director of national intelligence, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services secretary.
