June 19, 2019

Brian Bussey, Director of the Division of Clearing and Risk, to Take Early Retirement after 22 Years of Federal Government Service

Washington, DC — After more than two decades of federal government service, Brian Bussey, 53, the Director of the Division of Clearing and Risk (DCR) at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), is taking early retirement from government service, the agency announced today. His last day as Director will be July 12, 2019; he will continue in federal service until July 29, 2019.

“Brian worked tirelessly from day one to lead the highly capable team in DCR to do strong work for the Commission to accomplish our regulatory mission,” said CFTC Chairman J. Christopher Giancarlo. “I am not alone in wishing him well in his retirement from federal service and good luck with his future endeavors.” 

As DCR Director since 2017, Bussey has led a team of approximately 70 attorneys, examiners, accountants, and quantitative, risk, and technology systems analysts in Washington and Chicago.  Bussey has had oversight responsibility for all aspects of the DCR’s operations, including its legal, domestic and international policy, risk surveillance, and examinations programs. Bussey’s 22-year career in federal service also included senior positions at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and clerking on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

DCR oversees 16 registered domestic and foreign derivatives central counterparties, which play a crucial role in managing risk in cleared derivatives markets and the overall financial system, as well as various other participants in the clearing ecosystem. During his tenure Bussey focused on:

• Rethinking the CFTC’s approach to cross-border oversight of foreign central counterparties;
• Applying CFTC rules in innovative ways to cryptocurrency derivatives and other fintech-related initiatives; and
• Enhancing the operations and management of an already well-functioning Division.

“I am truly grateful for the opportunity to have served investors and other market participants in the public interest during my 22 years as a federal employee. I am grateful as well to have worked with a number of outstanding Chairmen and Commissioners, as well as countless staff members, at both the CFTC and SEC. In particular, I am honored to have served my last years in federal service with the professionals in the Division of Clearing and Risk,” said Bussey. “These dedicated, experienced, and capable career civil servants are a foundation of a safe, resilient, and vibrant financial system in the United States. I am grateful to all my colleagues in the Division, and at the CFTC more broadly, for serving the public interest and protecting participants in cleared and uncleared derivatives markets. They provide Chairman Giancarlo, the Commissioners, and the agency’s senior staff with clear-eyed and unflinching advice, often in the face of intense pressures and the potential consequences typical of working as a civil servant at the highest levels of government in Washington, DC.  And with little fanfare or public recognition, they consistently produce high-quality work under often significant time and enormous resource constraints. 

“I am also grateful to Chairman Giancarlo for giving me the opportunity to serve the last years of my career in federal service as part of a high-functioning, effective, and non-political independent agency, with a top-notch senior management team brought together by Chairman Giancarlo. Under Chairman Giancarlo’s leadership, the agency and its current senior management and career staff have served the derivatives markets, and participants in those markets, ably and well,” Bussey stated.

Prior to his time at the CFTC, Bussey held various leadership positions at the Securities and Exchange Commission since 1998, including serving in two Associate Director positions in the Division of Trading and Markets. He was also Assistant Chief Counsel of that Division and served as Counselor to three former SEC Chairmen.

Prior to joining SEC staff, Bussey was a corporate associate at Kirkland & Ellis in Chicago.  Bussey began his legal career in 1995 as a law clerk to the Honorable E. Grady Jolly on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.

Bussey received his J.D. with high honors from the University of Chicago Law School, and was awarded Order of the Coif. He also was an Olin Fellow in Law and Economics and a Bradley Fellow in Constitutional History. He received his B.A., cum laude, from Pomona College in Claremont, California, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.