Obama taps securities regulator Schapiro for SEC, 2 others

— -- Rounding out his economic team, President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday named three veteran regulators to deal with the turmoil in the nation's financial markets and the economy.

Obama said he will nominate Mary Schapiro to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission, Gary Gensler to head the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Daniel Tarullo to fill an empty Federal Reserve seat. All three will need to be confirmed by the Senate next year.

In announcing the appointments, Obama mentioned Wall Street money manager Bernard Madoff, saying the latest investment scandal "has reminded us yet again of how badly reform is needed." The president-elect said his team will help put in place new rules that will help "crack down on the culture of greed and scheming."

Obama introduced his latest selections at a news conference in Chicago. It's his fourth this week as he seeks to fill many, if not all, key positions before heading to Hawaii for a holiday vacation.

Schapiro has long served in a variety of regulatory roles, including as SEC commissioner for six years after being appointed by President Reagan in 1988, reappointed by President Bush in 1989 and named acting chairman by President Clinton in 1993.

She is currently head of the non-governmental body that supervises the security industry, called Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA.

Tarullo, 57, is one of Obama's economic policy advisers and was President Bill Clinton's top adviser on international economic policy.

The Federal Reserve Board has two vacancies on its seven-member panel. Tarullo, who must be confirmed by the Senate, would join Chairman Ben Bernanke as the Fed tries to ease a credit crisis and combat a deepening recession.

Gensler was a former Treasury official in the Clinton administration He also worked on Capitol Hill as a senior advisory to former Democratic Sen. Paul Sarbanes of Maryland. Sarbanes authored legislation to increase oversight of the accounting industry and reform corporate governance.