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The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced on Monday three new appointments for the staff. According to the press release, Chris Lucas will serve as Chief of Staff and Counsel, Terry Arbit will serve as Senior Counsel, and Elizabeth Mastrogiacomo will serve as Senior Counsel.
From BNY Mellon, where he was Co-Head of US Government Affairs, Lucas joins the office of Commissioner Mersinger. In his previous role with BNY Mellon, Lucas served as Counsel to Small Business Committee Ranking Member Olympia Snowe (R-ME), where he was the senator's key staffer during the consideration of the Dodd-Frank Act. Lucas graduated from the University of Rochester and Brooklyn Law School with a BA and JD, respectively.
Abit joins Commissioner Mersinger's office after working closely with her at the office of former Commissioner Dawn Stump. Specifically, he offered legal and policy advice on matters arising mainly from the Division of Market Oversight, the Market Participants Division, and the Legal Division, as well as recommended actions from the Division of Enforcement.
Arbit worked at the agency for 17 years from 1996 to 2013, in a variety of roles. As a lawyer, Arbit spent 12 years in private practice, and he began his government service with five years with the Resolution Trust Corporation, which was the receiver for failed savings and loan institutions. His degrees are a joint MA/BA from the University of Pennsylvania and a JD from the University of Chicago Law School.
Moreover, Mastrogiacomo was most recently the Senior Counsel to former Commissioner Dawn Stump before joining Commissioner Mersinger's office. Commissioner Stump consulted Libby on clearing and cross-border derivatives issues, including the regulation of non-US central counterparties and other non-US infrastructure providers, the CFTC's response to Brexit, and the agenda for the Global Markets Advisory Committee, which Stump led.
Among her clients are the CFTC, the SEC, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, and Congress. In addition to extensive experience with international standards-setting bodies, Libby has extensive knowledge of central counterparty resilience, recovery, and resolution. Libby holds a BBA from College of William and Mary and a JD from George Washington University Law School.
“At such a critical moment for the CFTC, I am delighted to welcome Chris, Terry, and Libby to my team. Their deep expertise will be invaluable as we work to promote integrity, resilience, and innovation within the CFTC and more broadly in US markets,” Summer Mersinger, CFTC Commissioner, commented.
Recent Staff Appointments
Recently, the CFTC announced that Bruce Fekrat will serve as Chief Counsel and Natasha C. Robinson Coates and Lillian A. Cardona will serve as interim Senior Counsel.