Commissioner Kristin Johnson intends to step down from her role at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission this year, the fourth commissioner to announce her pending departure from the agency in the past two weeks.
Johnson’s term has ended and she has notified President Donald Trump about her plan to exit, she said in a statement Wednesday.
“Although this is a difficult decision, I am proud of the work that I have accomplished and am deeply grateful for the chance to develop meaningful relationships with staff and current and former Commissioners during my tenure at the CFTC,” said Johnson, a Democrat.
Democratic Commissioner Christy Goldsmith Romero announced Friday that she would leave the commission May 31 and retire from federal service. Republican Commissioner Summer Mersinger announced May 14 she would also leave the CFTC at the end of the month to become chief executive of the Blockchain Association. Mersinger was appointed to a second term last year and could have served through 2028.
Johnson was sworn in as commissioner alongside Goldsmith Romero and Mersinger on March 30, 2022.
The commission, which has four members instead of five and is evenly split between political parties, is awaiting congressional approval for Trump nominee Brian Quintenz to serve as chair. Commissioner Caroline Pham, a Republican, is serving as acting chair, and she, too, said last week she would leave the CFTC once Quintenz is confirmed.
Quintenz is a CFTC veteran who worked at the commission for four years before leaving the agency in September 2021. He has led Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto policy initiatives since December 2022.
In her statement Wednesday, Johnson highlighted the hard work the “small but mighty agency" staff put in while tackling complex issues.
“I am confident that the Commission will continue to do important work protecting investors and customers, combatting fraud and market manipulation, and ensuring market integrity and stability,” Johnson said.
Now-former President Joe Biden nominated Johnson last year to serve as assistant secretary for financial institutions at the Treasury Department, but the move stalled when the Trump administration came to power. For her CFTC term, Johnson took a leave of absence from her position as a professor at Emory University School of Law.
The CFTC can still operate with a quorum of two members. (And indeed, by June, only Johnson and either Pham or Quintenz will remain.) But matters that require a vote, like approving the agency budget or enforcement actions, can be stalled if the two members cannot agree, Daniel Davis, a partner at Katten Muchin Rosenman and a former CFTC general counsel, told Bloomberg this week.
The operations of some financial watchdogs have come into focus after Trump fired two Democratic commissioners from the National Credit Union Administration’s board. The ousting of Todd Harper and Tanya Otsuka has left the agency with no quorum and just one board member: Republican Chair Kyle Hauptman. The NCUA’s board usually comprises three members, with no more than two belonging to the same political party.
The fired NCUA Democrats are suing to be reinstated to the board.
