Jill E. Sommers, a Republican regulator overseeing the investigation into MF Global’s collapse, has abruptly decided to depart the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the agency said on Thursday.
It is a surprising move for Ms. Sommers, a veteran commissioner who will exit with more than a year left on her term and without concluding the MF Global investigation, an inquiry into how the bankrupt brokerage firm misused customer money. A former lobbyist and Congressional staff member, she is departing without indicating a next career move, according to agency officials.
Ms. Sommers, who submitted a letter of resignation on Thursday, will leave the agency after the first quarter of the year. Her letter did not specify a reason for resigning, though some people close to the agency surmised that Ms. Sommers planned to spend more time with her three children.
“As I prepare to leave the Commodity Futures Trading Commission I would like to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of my felow commissioners and the many talented staff with whom I have had the pleasure of working for the past five years,†Ms. Sommers said in a statement.
Her departure, the agency officials said, does not portend a broader shakeup at the agency, a small but important regulator overseeing Wall Street. Gary Gensler, a Democrat whose time as chairman of the agency ends in December, and other senior regulators are not planning to depart the agency.
Instead, her exit offers Mr. Gensler and his two fellow Democrats a lopsided advantage. With only one Republican commissioner remaining, Mr. Gensler is likely to encounter fewer obstacles adopting new rules for derivatives trading on Wall Street.
Over her five-year tenure at the agency, Ms. Sommers positioned herself as a soft-spoken skeptic of derivatives regulation, in sharp contrast to Mr. Gensler’s strong support for a Wall Street crackdown. The two often clashed on rule-writing under the Dodd Frank Act, the regulatory overhaul law passed! in response to the financial crisis.
In a statement, Mr. Gensler praised Ms. Sommers for her work on Dodd-Frank. “Along with our fellow Commissioners, Jill has worked to bring common-sense swaps market reforms to life and to safeguard the integrity of the futures market,†he said, adding that she was “essential to these historic efforts.â€
But her most prominent position came as the senior commissioner tasked with overseeing the investigation into MF Global, the brokerage firm that blew up in October 2011 after misusing more than $1 billion in customer money.
She inherited the job after Mr. Gensler, a Goldman Sachs alumnus, recused himself because of his past association with Jon Corzine, the head of MF Global, who years before had run Goldman.
Bart Chilton, a Democratic commissioner at the agency, may take over Ms. Sommers’s role in the MF Global case.
Just months ago, when President Obama’s re-election hopes were shaky, Ms. Sommers was considered a Republican canddate to replace Mr. Gensler as chairman of the trading commission. Her husband, Mike Sommers, is a top aide to John Boehner, the speaker of the House.
Ms. Sommers began her Washington career more than 20 years ago as an aide to then-Senator Robert J. Dole, Republican of Kansas. She later moved in and out of Washington’s revolving door, landing as a lobbyist for what is now known as the CME Group, the giant Chicago exchange that she now regulates at the trading commission. She was also a lobbyist for the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, a Wall Street trade group that specializes in derivatives issues.
President Bush nominated Ms. Sommers to join the trading commission in 2007, and President Obama put her up for a second term that expires in 2014.
