Who Is Jay Clayton? Wall Street Lawyer Could Be Trump’s Pick For SEC Chairman, Reports Say

President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could be another Wall Street face — lawyer Jay Clayton — reports said Tuesday, with the announcement expected to come as soon as Wednesday.

Clayton, who is a partner at Sullivan & Cromwell LLP, reportedly met with Trump on Dec. 22. With clients including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Barclays Capital Inc., he also worked on the 2014 initial public offering of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., the firm’s website showed.

The University of Pennsylvania graduate represented Goldman when it received a $5 billion investment from billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway at the peak of the credit crisis in September 2008. He also boasts of a wide-ranging corporate practice that includes mergers and acquisitions, IPOs, corporate governance, along with investment advice for high-net-worth families.

In December, reports suggested that Debra Wong Yang, a partner at Los Angeles-based Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP who served as a U.S. attorney under former President George W. Bush’s administration, was touted as the leading candidate. However, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters and the Wall Street Journal that Clayton has overtaken the California attorney.

Activist investor Carl Icahn has been interviewing many potential SEC candidates, Reuters reported, like former SEC commissioner Paul Atkins, lawyer Ralph Ferrara, and another candidate who has worked at a prominent Wall Street hedge fund.

If appointed, Clayton will succeed SEC Chairman Mary Jo White, and become the latest in the list of Wall Street-associated choices Trump has made since election. Clayton will join Trump’s pick for Treasury secretary, former Goldman executive Steven Mnuchin, the to-be head of National Economic Council and former Goldman President Gary Cohn, and Trump’s choice for the head of Commerce Department, private-equity investor Wilbur Ross.

Clayton was not available to comment, Reuters reported.