As expected, president-elect Barack Obama has named regulatory veteran Mary Schapiro, chief executive of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, as his pick to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Prior to taking the helm of FINRA, the self regulatory organization formed by the 2007 merger of the regulatory arms of the National Association of Securities Dealers and NYSE Regulation, Schapiro had the chairman and CEO job at NASD, where she held various posts since 1996. Schapiro also previously served as chairman of the Federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission and as a Commissioner for six years at the Securities and Exchange Commission.

If confirmed, Schapiro would inherit an agency under fresh fire for oversight failures during the financial crisis. This week, current SEC Chairman Christopher Cox called for the agency’s inspector general to conduct a probe into its failure to fully investigate the activities of Wall Street money manager Bernard Madoff, who is accused of a $50 billion securities fraud. In September, the SEC’s inspector general harshly criticized the agency for failing to adequately supervise investment bank Bear Stearns before its collapse earlier this year.

The financial crisis has ignited a debate about how to overhaul the U.S. financial regulatory system and renewed calls by some for a merger between the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

In a Dec. 18 statement, Schapiro said she’s “honored and humbled” to be considered for the position.

“As the events of the past year—even the past week—have shown us, this is a perilous time for investors. Americans are looking to policymakers and regulators to restore stability and trust to our financial markets,” she said.

Calling investor trust “the lifeblood of our financial markets,” Schapiro said the only way to restore that trust is through “effective, thoughtful reform of our regulatory structure and the consistent and robust enforcement of our financial regulations, and this will be my top priority.”