The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced a new Investment Management Division Director to replace William Birdthistle, who will be departing the agency March 8.
Upon Birdthistle’s departure, Natasha Vij Greiner, currently the Deputy Director of the Division of Examinations, will be named Director of the Division of Investment Management.
The Division oversees regulatory policy for investment advisers and investment companies, including mutual funds and other investment products and services relied upon by retail investors.
“I am grateful to William for his service to the SEC and to the investing public,” SEC Chair Gary Gensler said in a statement. “William has overseen our work to strengthen oversight of investment companies and investment advisers—from data reporting to fund names to money market reforms. These reforms will help American investors save for homes, college, and retirement.”
“I thank Natasha for taking on this new role as Division Director,” added Gensler. “Natasha brings deep and broad expertise to the Division, both having led the agency’s Investment Adviser/Investment Company examination program and having served in other key leadership roles over her more than two decades at the SEC.”
Since joining the SEC in December 2021, Birdthistle oversaw the adoption of rulemakings related to private fund advisers and their reporting on Form PF, as well as to public funds, including money market fund reforms, tailored shareholder reports, and revisions to the fund Names Rule. He also inaugurated the SEC’s annual Conference on Emerging Trends in Asset Management.
Prior to joining the SEC, Birdthistle was on the faculty at Chicago-Kent College of Law. He also has served as a visiting professor of law at the University of Chicago Law School and practiced law at Ropes & Gray in Boston for five years as a corporate associate in the firm’s investment management practice. Following his departure from the SEC, he will rejoin academia.
In addition to serving as Deputy Director of the Division of Examinations, Greiner is the National Associate Director of the Investment Adviser/Investment Company (IA/IC) examination program, which includes the Private Funds Unit, and is the Associate Director of the Home Office IA/IC examination program.
She began her SEC career in the Division of Examinations (formerly OCIE) as a broker-dealer examiner and has served in a variety of roles across the agency for more than 22 years, including Acting Chief Counsel and Assistant Chief Counsel in the Division of Trading and Markets, where she provided legal and policy advice to the Commission on rules affecting market participants and the operation of the securities markets.
Before that, Greiner worked in the Division of Enforcement, including in its Asset Management Unit, where she investigated possible violations of the federal securities laws and litigated matters in federal district court and administrative proceedings.
Greiner received her J.D. from The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law and graduated cum laude with a B.S. degree from James Madison University.
