
Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) Chair Erica Y. Williams was sworn in at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Oct. 24. Williams' second term runs from Oct. 25, 2025 to Oct. 24, 2029. The SEC reappointed Williams to serve her new term in June.
"I am honored and excited for the opportunity to continue working alongside my fellow Board Members and the talented and committed PCAOB staff to protect investors. I am proud of our work together and eager to continue executing our mission on behalf of investors who depend on U.S. capital markets to build their American dream. I want to again thank Chair [Gary] Gensler and Commissioners [Hester] Peirce, [Caroline] Crenshaw, [Mark] Uyeda and [Jaime] Lizárraga for this incredible responsibility, and I look forward to continuing this important work," Williams said in a statement about her reappointment.
The Trusted Professional reported during William's reappointment in June that she was initially appointed in November 2021, beginning her first term in January 2022. During her tenure, she has implemented many changes, with an ambitious agenda focusing on stricter enforcement and updating standards. During a conference in September 2022, she said, "We intend to use every tool in our enforcement toolbox and impose significant sanctions, where appropriate, to ensure there are consequences for putting investors at risk and that bad actors are removed.”
According to Accounting Today, since Williams took office, she and her fellow board members have cracked the whip on audit firms with stricter inspections and increased penalties while making progress on updating outdated PCAOB standards, citing a report from consulting services firm The Brattle Group that highlighted the PCAOB bringing more actions in the first six months of 2024 than each year under prior leadership from 2018 to 2021.
Before arriving at the PCAOB, Williams was a litigation partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. She spent more than a decade in different roles at the SEC, including as deputy chief of staff to three former SEC chairs and assistant chief litigation counsel in the SEC's Division of Enforcement trial unit. After leaving the SEC, she worked as special assistant and associate counsel to President Barrack Obama, focusing on financial and economic policy issues. She has a J.D. and a B.A. from the University of Virginia.