The new head of New York’s Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) is expected to be Adrienne Harris, who was nominated to the post Tuesday by Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Harris, who served roles at the U.S. Treasury and White House under President Barack Obama, would assume the position of superintendent at the key financial regulator if confirmed by the New York state senate.

“From her time working with President Obama to help the nation forge a path forward in the aftermath of 2007’s Great Recession to her vast experience in the private sector helping ensure companies of all sizes act as good corporate citizens, there is no one better suited to help lead this state’s economy forward and I, for one, cannot wait to get to work with Adrienne to deliver real results for the people of this great state,” Hochul said in a press release.

Harris is currently an advisor at insurance provider States Title (now Doma). She is also a professor and faculty co-director at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy’s Center on Finance, Law & Policy at the University of Michigan and senior advisor at the Brunswick Group in Washington D.C. In the latter role, she advises multinational corporations on mergers and acquisitions, stakeholder communications and management, future-proofing, and policy intelligence.

In the Obama administration, Harris served as senior advisor to Deputy Treasury Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin and Acting Deputy Treasury Secretary Mary Miller. Her work “ranged from helping jumpstart national financial reform efforts to finding ways to advance FinTech, identifying solutions to the student loan crisis, analyzing the nexus between foreign investment and national security, and working to promote financial intelligence and health in communities throughout the country,” according to the NYDFS.

Harris also served as special assistant to the President for economic policy, as part of the National Economic Council. In this role, she managed the financial services portfolio, which included developing and executing strategies for financial reform and the implementation of Dodd-Frank, the NYDFS said.

Harris would succeed former NYDFS Superintendent Linda Lacewell, who resigned from her post Aug. 24—the same day Gov. Andrew Cuomo left office following an investigation that he sexually harassed several female staff members. Lacewell had led the agency since 2019.

Aaron Nicodemus covers regulatory policy and compliance trends for Compliance Week. He previously worked as a reporter for Bloomberg Law and as business editor at the Telegram & Gazette in Worcester, Mass.

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