ICYMI: 40-Year EY Veteran Picked to Chair the PCAOB

Goodbye George Botic, hello Demetrios (Jim) Logothetis.

On Friday, the SEC announced a new crew will be running things at the PCAOB, including new chair and 40-year EY veteran (Jim) Logothetis and four board members. Francine McKenna’s Substack column The Dig here calls it “[SEC Chairman Paul] Atkins’ dramatic decision to select a fox to watch the henhouse.” And then she put the gang in photo collage form for maximum dramatic effect:

Hmm…none of these things are not like the other (reference).

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins is “confident” this bunch will get the job done, though it would be colossally stupid of his official statement to say anything but that. Imagine if we lived in a world where the chairman of the SEC could say what we’re all thinking.

“I am confident that this new Board will usher in a new day at the PCAOB—one of sensible, efficient oversight of auditors,” he said. “The newly appointed Chairman and Board members have already demonstrated a profound commitment to protecting investors and responsible use of such funds by accepting compensation much more in line with the ethos of public service. I look forward to working with this Board as it refocuses on the PCAOB’s core statutory mission—protecting investors and furthering the public interest in the preparation of informative, accurate, and independent audit reports.”

The PCAOB’s 2026 budget is $362.1 million, down from 2025’s budget of $399.7 million. On top of that, salaries for the chair and board members have been cut by 52% and 42%, respectively. Let’s hope these guys are in it for the love of the game.

Let’s see their resumes.

Demetrios (Jim) Logothetis, Chairman, will serve a term ending on October 24, 2030. Mr. Logothetis serves on the board of The Republic Bank of Chicago, where he chairs the audit committee, and on the advisory council of CrossCountry Consulting, a privately owned consultancy firm. In 2019, Jim retired from Ernst and Young (EY) after forty years with the firm, during which time he served as the lead partner for several of EY’s largest clients. He held a number of leadership roles with the firm, including Vice-Chair of Global Accounts, Managing Partner of the Midwest U.S assurance and advisory practices, and Chairman of the German Business Center in the United States. He also served as Senior Advisor in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of the Assistant Secretary and Chief Financial Officer, where he led the Audit Coordination Committee for Ginnie Mae. He holds an M.B.A. degree in Accounting, Finance, and International Business from The University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business and a B.S. degree in Accountancy from De Paul University.

Mark Calabria will serve a term ending on Oct. 24, 2027. Mr. Calabria is currently an Associate Director and Chief Statistician with the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and a Senior Advisor to the Office of the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. His prior service includes Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Assistant to the Vice President, Deputy Assistant Secretary with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Senior Economist at the National Association of Realtors. He has a B.A and Ph.D. in Economics from George Mason University.

Kyle Hauptman will serve a term ending on Oct. 24, 2029. Mr. Hauptman is currently the Chairman of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). He was originally appointed by President Trump and confirmed by the Senate to serve as a Board Member in December 2020. He was elevated to Chairman of the NCUA in January 2025. He previously served on the Senate Banking Committee staff, as a staff director and as Economic Policy Counselor to a senator. He has also held positions at the American Enterprise Institute, Jefferies and Co., and Lehman Brothers. He holds an M.B.A. degree from Columbia Business School and a B.A. from University of California, Los Angeles.

Steven Laughton will serve a term ending on Oct. 24, 2026. Mr. Laughton is currently Board Counsel to PCAOB Board Member Christina Ho. Prior to joining the PCAOB in 2022, he spent more than thirty years with the U.S. Department of the Treasury. His roles at the Treasury Department included Senior Counsel to the General Counsel, where he helped establish the Paycheck Protection Program, and Assistant General Counsel, where he supervised more than 50 attorneys and staff and advised on a wide range of matters, including cybersecurity, consumer financial policy, disclosure, privacy, and advisory committees. He holds a B.A. in Political Science and French from Tufts University and a J.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Law.

Anyone who worked with Mr. Logothetis at EY is welcome to reach out via email or text (tipsters are always anonymous) and share what that was like. Maybe we’re all being overly cynical and he will turn out to be great for the trust of capital markets.