Personnel Notes

One of the top government officials charged with overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) has joined the law firm Venable LLP.

The firm announced Friday that it had hired Michael Rivera, formerly the chief investigative counsel for the Special Inspector General for TARP (SIGTARP), as a partner in its Washington office. Rivera will be joining the firm's SEC and white collar defense group.

While at SIGTARP, Rivera was responsible for guiding the watch dog's investigative oversight efforts, managing over 150 investigations into fraud and misconduct under the massive bank bailout program.

“Anyone who questions whether the government successfully pursued wrongdoing related to the economic crisis need only review Mike Rivera’s resume. He led what was arguably one of the country’s most significant government investigative and prosecutorial initiatives in history,” said Geoffrey Garinther, who chairs Venable’s litigation practice group. “Mike has exceptional experience handling criminal and civil investigations, including 17 years in private practice at a major international law firm defending companies and executives facing government investigations."

Richard Hertling will work for the firm’s global public policy and government affairs practice.

Mary Schapiro, the former head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), is joining a private consulting firm as managing director.

The longtime public servant is now stepping into the private sector, joining the Promontory Financial Group LLC in its Washington office, according to The Wall Street Journal.

While the firm is known for hiring a host of former regulators — more than one-quarter of its full-time employees spent time at regulatory agencies — Schapiro shot down any notion that she was engaging in the widely criticized "revolving door" of government workers joining private firms and vice versa.

"In my case, there's no revolving door…I won't ever be going back to government," she told the Journal.

Two Wall Street executives are under consideration for a top spot at the Treasury Department.

Raymond McGuire, who oversees mergers and acquisitions at Citigroup and Orin Kramer, a general partner at Boston Provident, are leading the list to become deputy Treasury secretary, Bloomberg reported on Monday.

President Obama and newly tapped Treasury Secretary Jack Lew want to fill the position with someone who holds financial markets expertise to work in tandem with Lew's career, which has primarily focused on governmental budgetary policy.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) is shuffling his top staff, placing long-term colleagues at the top of the hierarchy.

The White House has nominated Fred Hochberg to serve a second four-year term at the Export-Import Bank to help achieve its export goals.

Hochberg, who has held the position since May 2009 and also serves on the President's Export Council, led the agency through a tough reauthorization fight last year, and is expected to boost the Obama administration's chances of doubling U.S. exports by the end of 2014.

Nearly a year ago, President Obama signed legislation to renew the bank's charter for three years and raise the limit on the total financing the bank can guarantee, to $140 billion from $100 billion.

The secretary said she expects to start her new position in July, and to welcome a replacement before her departure.

A source said that a hold could be placed on nominee Sylvia Burwell in protest over budget delays.

As of Tuesday, Boris Bershteyn is no longer listed as the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs' acting administrator. 

The former No. 2 Republican in the Senate has taken a job at the firm Covington & Burling.