SEC taps Erica Williams for second term chairing PCAOB

The Securities and Exchange Commission has reappointed Erica Williams to another term as chairperson of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board through Oct. 24, 2029.

Williams has been chairing the PCAOB since she was brought in by SEC chairman Gary Gensler in November 2021, along with three other new members in a shake-up of the five-person board.

She began her first term in January 2022 when she was sworn in to head the audit firm overseer, and her second term will begin Oct. 25, 2024. In the past four years, she and the other board members have made rapid progress on updating decades-old PCAOB standards, while cracking down on audit firms with penalties and tougher inspections.

Prior to helming the PCAOB, Williams was a litigation partner with Kirkland & Ellis LLP. She previously spent more than a decade in different roles at the SEC, including as deputy chief of staff to three former SEC chairs and assistant chief litigation counsel in the SEC’s Division of Enforcement trial unit. After departing the SEC, Williams worked as special assistant and associate counsel to President Obama with a focus on financial and economic policy issues. She has both a J.D. and a B.A. from the University of Virginia.

“I am honored to have Chair Gensler and the Commission’s confidence and grateful for the opportunity to continue working alongside my fellow board members and the talented and dedicated PCAOB staff to protect investors,” Williams said in a statement Tuesday. “I’m proud of our work together and eager to continue executing our mission on behalf of investors who depend on U.S. capital markets to build their American dream.”

“I thank Erica for her leadership and am pleased that she will continue to serve as Chairperson of the PCAOB,” Gensler said in a statement. “I also thank the PCAOB staff and the board for their diligent work to ensure that public company financial disclosures can be trusted by investors.”

SEC chief accountant Paul Munter added, “I look forward to continuing to work with Chairperson Williams to further the PCAOB’s long-overdue plan to modernize standards and improve audit quality to promote investor protection.”