The post-election wave of departures at the Securities and Exchange Commission has begun, with the announcement that Corporation Finance Director John White will leave the agency at the end of the year.

White will rejoin the law firm of Cravath, Swaine & Moore as a partner in its New York office, where he spent more than 25 years as a partner prior to joining the SEC in March 2006.

White has recommended more than 60 rulemaking releases during his tenure at the SEC, including the sweeping changes to executive and director compensation disclosure, efforts to improve implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley Act Section 404, the acceptance of International Financial Reporting Standards by foreign issuers, electronic delivery of proxy materials, and efforts to modernize the requirements that apply to foreign issuers and U.S. investors in foreign companies, such as the simplification of deregistration by foreign issuers, improvements to the cross-border tender offer rules and revision of the exemption from registration for foreign private issuers.

He has also overseen some major SEC rulemaking initiatives that are expected to be finalized shortly, including an updated roadmap for the use of IFRS by U.S. issuers and a proposal to mandate interactive data financial reporting for all issuers. The SEC published its interactive data rule proposal in May. The commissioners voted in August to publish the proposed IFRS roadmap. Both efforts appear to have stalled as the SEC has focused on dealing with the financial crisis.

SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said White’s work “has increased transparency for investors when that is what our markets have needed most.”

“The SEC and America’s investors could not have had a better leader during these challenging times,” Cox said.

“It has been a privilege to serve under Chairman Cox and the other members of the Commission and alongside the agency’s talented and dedicated staff—they are among the government’s finest,” White said in a statement. “The Division of Corporation Finance has a long and proud tradition of excellence, and I am grateful to have been a part of that tradition over the past few years.”