WASHINGTON (HedgeWorld.com)–Paul Roye plans to leave the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and take a job in the private sector.
Mr. Roye, who has headed the SEC's Division of Investment Management since 1998, did not say when he would leave the commission. A spokesman for the SEC said he did not know who would replace Mr. Roye or over what time frame the transition would occur.
It was not known where Mr. Roye planned to go next, although there has been speculation in the legal community that he would likely take a job at a private firm that specializes in securities law. Mr. Roye previously worked at Dechert LLP from 1982 until he became director of the Division of Investment Management. He has a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School.
"It has been an honor and a privilege to serve America's investors as director of the Division of Investment Management," Mr. Roye said in a statement. "I will miss my talented and dedicated colleagues in the Division of Investment Management as well as others throughout the Commission who, particularly during the challenges of recent months, have given their all to serve and protect America's investors."
Mr. Roye is well known in the hedge fund community as an architect and key backer of new rules extending the SEC's oversight of hedge funds.
Steven J. Tsimbinos, a partner at the law firm Lowenstein Sandler PC, Roseland, N.J., said he suspected that Mr. Roye's departure will not have a significant impact on the commission's regulatory stance in regard to hedge funds, because the move to require registration of hedge fund managers "was [SEC Chairman William H.] Donaldson's initiative." Mr. Tsimbinos said he had viewed Mr. Roye as being "sort of on the regulation side" and "in the same camp" as Mr. Donaldson. "He was an effective regulator," Mr. Tsimbinos said, adding that he had not heard where Mr. Roye might be heading, though he speculated it might be to a Washington, D.C., law firm.
Just last week, Mr. Roye spoke at a Managed Funds Association seminar on hedge fund regulation.
