Citadel taps top SEC enforcer for chief compliance officer role

Citadel has hired a top enforcer from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as its new chief compliance officer as it continues to build one of the biggest legal and compliance teams in the hedge fund sector.

David Glockner, who was director of the SEC’s Chicago office overseeing over 270 enforcement staff, joined the $27bn hedge fund earlier this month as chief compliance officer. It confirmed the appointment.

Glockner has led the Chicago operation of the SEC since December 2013, which is its second largest office, and left in early November. He played an instrumental role in the creation of a new cyber-security unit at the SEC, announced in September, that targets hackers, electronic trading market manipulation and misconduct on the dark web.

Before he joined the SEC, Glockner spent 25 years as a criminal prosecutor at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois. At Citadel, he will be based in its Chicago headquarters and reports to Shawn Fagan, its chief legal officer.

Fagan was promoted earlier this year following the retirement of Citadel’s former chief legal officer Adam Cooper in December 2016. Throughout 2017 Citadel has been bringing in senior compliance staff for various parts of its business.

Glockner is the second senior SEC official to join Citadel’s legal and compliance team this year. Stephen Luparello, the director of trading and markets at the SEC, joined its market-making business Citadel Securities as general counsel in May.

Meanwhile, Natasha Kassian, the former head of compliance for Europe and global head of corporate and regulatory compliance at rival hedge fund Millennium Partners, joined Citadel in May as chief compliance officer for its fundamental equities business, Aptigon Capital.

Lauren Conway Modahl, who has worked as a senior compliance officer at Citadel since 2012, was promoted to chief compliance officer, core compliance in May and Paula Miller Weil, who was principal regional counsel in Finra’s department of enforcement, joined as deputy chief compliance officer for equities in February.

Fagan said that Glockner is “an accomplished leader with a distinguished career in legal and regulatory affairs” in a statement from Citadel. “His hire further underscores our steadfast commitment to compliance, and we’re thrilled to have someone with his talent and track record join Citadel,” he said.

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