The Securities and Exchange Commission announced April 20 that David Woodcock, regional director of the Fort Worth office and leader of the Enforcement Division’s nationwide Financial Reporting and Audit Task Force, is leaving the SEC later this spring.
Associate Regional Directors Marshall Gandy, who oversees the office’s examination program and David Peavler, who oversees its enforcement program, will serve as co-acting regional directors upon Woodcock’s departure.
“David has consistently demonstrated exemplary dedication to our mission and great enthusiasm for the work of the Commission,” said SEC Chair Mary Jo White. “We and the investing public have been exceptionally well served by his many contributions to the agency.”
As the regional director of the Fort Worth office since 2011, Woodcock has overseen a staff of attorneys, accountants, examiners, and other professionals responsible for conducting investigations, litigation, and examinations in a region that includes Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Kansas. He helped form and lead the Financial Reporting and Audit Task Force that comprises a group of accountants and attorneys using innovative methods and technology to prevent, detect, and investigate potential fraud in financial statements and other accounting documents. Woodcock received an Excellence in Leadership Award from the SEC in 2013.
Woodcock was named to his position in 2011 and during his 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.
Woodcock earned a certificate in Securities and Financial Regulation from the Georgetown Law Center through a program co-sponsored by the SEC. He was a partner at a national law firm before his arrival at the SEC, and prior to law school he worked as an auditor with two public accounting firms. Woodcock earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting from Louisiana State University, and his JD from the University of Texas School of Law. Prior to joining the SEC, Woodcock was a partner in the Austin office of Vinson & Elkins. Woodcock did not say what his plans were after leaving the SEC.