“President Barack Obama on Thursday will nominate former prosecutor Mary Jo White to be chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and renominate Richard Cordray to be director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Obama is set to make the announcement at the White House this afternoon, according to news reports, as he moves to fill vacancies in his administration as his second term begins.

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White is already garnering rave reviews from consumer advocates.

“Mary Jo White was a tough, smart, no-nonsense, broadly experienced and highly accomplished prosecutor. She knew who the bad guys were, went after them and put them in prison when they broke the law,” said Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets, a public interest organization.

“That’s what must happen if integrity and investor confidence is to be restored in our securities markets,” he said. “Wall Street is a high-crime area, and Mary Jo White brings the right skill set to restore the rule of law on Wall Street.”

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