WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve Board announced Thursday that Mark Van Der Weide will be the agency's new general counsel, succeeding Scott Alvarez, who is retiring after 36 years at the Fed.
Van Der Weide is currently the deputy director of supervision and regulation at the Fed and is expected to take over as general counsel later this summer.
“The Board gave thorough consideration to many highly qualified internal and external candidates and Mr. Van Der Weide was chosen for his exceptional skills and experience,” the Fed announcement said.
Van Der Weide has been with the division of supervision and regulation since 2010. Previously, he worked in the Fed's legal division from 1998 to 2009. He was assigned to the Treasury Department in 2009 and 2010 to assist in implementing financial reform legislation.
Van Der Weide “knows his way around the regulatory world and is dedicated to the Federal Reserve’s mission. I think he’s a great choice and will serve the Federal Reserve extremely well,” said Michael Krimminger, former general counsel at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and a partner at the law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton.
Travis Norton, a policy adviser and counsel at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, said Van Der Weide is “very methodical and deliberate and thoughtful and he will bring a great deal of organization to that office, which is of an increasing amount of importance as the Fed’s regulatory duties expand.”
The Fed announced in February that Alvarez would step down this year. He has run the legal division for over 12 years.
Van Der Weide has a B.A. from the University of Iowa, where he graduated in 1992, and earned a J.D. from Yale in 1995.
