US Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chairman Caroline Pham, the Republican commissioner who just took over the agency when President Donald Trump returned to the White House, ushered in many of the agency’s top officials under predecessor Rostin Behnam, the Democrat appointed by Joe Biden .
The staff changes — with each departure replaced by interim officials appointed by Pham — will have cryptocurrency oversight implications for the U.S. derivatives regulator, which is poised to play a bigger role in the field.
In particular, Harry Jung, who joined the CFTC in 2023 as a senior policy advisor to Pham, will lead the agency’s engagement with the crypto industry. He has been tapped for an elevated role as the CFTC’s new acting chief of staff.
Pham announced the departure of an extensive list of senior officials, including the agency’s general counsel and the heads of its enforcement, public affairs, clearing and risk, market oversight and market participants. Also of interest is the head of the office of international affairs and the department that oversees regulatory affairs – a key area for the agency, as Congress will work on a crypto bill that could put the CFTC in a leading role.
“I am pleased to announce changes in the CFTC’s leadership with the beginning of the new administration,” Pham said in a statement. “I am grateful for their combined decades of faithful service to the CFTC, and I appreciate our talented CFTC staff who will assume these roles on an interim basis.”
The new acting attorney general — the agency’s top legal official — and Pham’s chief of staff and director of public affairs were lifted from the ranks of staff from her commissioner’s office: Meghan Tente, Taylor Foy and Jung, respectively. The legislative office will be Nicholas Elliot, who previously advised her on politics.
The stand-in enforcement director will be Brang Young, a former Justice Department veteran who took over as the CFTC’s whistleblower officer last year.
