PCAOB gets new chairman, complete new board membership

A complete change in the composition of the PCAOB occurred in December as William Duhnke was appointed to be the board’s chairman and J. Robert Brown, Kathleen Hamm, James Kaiser, and Duane DesParte were named as board members.

They replace the previous chairman, James Doty, and board members Steve ­Harris, Jeanette Franzel, and Lewis Ferguson. Franzel was scheduled to continue as a board member, pending the arrival of the new members.

“They have achieved a great deal on behalf of our investors and the public, including, most recently, the adoption of a new auditor’s reporting model which should provide investors with meaningful insight into auditor-audit committee communications,” SEC Chairman Jay Clayton said of the previous board members in a news release.

Duhnke served as staff director and general counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration. Previously, he served as staff director and general counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs and the Committee on Appropriations.

Brown was a professor of law at the University of Denver, where he directed the corporate and commercial law program and was the Lawrence W. Treece Professor of Corporate Governance. Previously, he served on the SEC staff and worked in private practice.

Hamm served as the global leader of securities and fintech solutions and as senior strategic adviser on cyber solutions at Promontory Financial Group. She has previously worked at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the American Stock Exchange, and the SEC.

Kaiser was a partner and the global assurance methodology and transformation leader at PwC. He led the firm’s efforts to drive innovation in auditing and had responsibility for the firm’s adherence to international auditing standards.

DesParte is retiring from his position as senior vice president and corporate controller at Exelon Corp. He has served as an audit partner at Deloitte & Touche and Arthur Andersen.