On Feb 11, the White House plans to nominate Jonathan McKernan, a former Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation member, as the full-time director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Additionally, Jonathan Gould is slated to head the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, and Brian Quintenz may become chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
According to sources familiar with the situation, these nominations were initially reported by Punchbowl News, with no immediate response from a White House spokesperson when requested for comment.
If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, McKernan would take the reins of an agency currently in flux after the Trump administration's oversight. McKernan recently resigned from the FDIC board, having served since January 2023. His background includes legal counsel for the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, senior counsel at the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and Treasury Department advisor.
Gould most recently held a partnership at law firm Jones Day in Washington and previously served as chief legal officer for crypto firm Bitfury. In a previous role in 2018, he was chief counsel for the Senate Banking Committee under Idaho Republican Mike Crapo's chairmanship.
If appointed to the OCC, Gould would be tasked with overseeing large national banks. The CFTC, responsible for regulating commodity derivatives markets, is expected to gain more significance as the Trump administration initiates changes to cryptocurrency regulations.
Quintenz, the current head of policy for a16z crypto, the cryptocurrency division of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, had previously advised the Trump transition team on crypto policy, as previously reported by Reuters.