CFTC Chief of Staff David Gillers to Step Down

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced that David Gillers will step down as Chief of Staff to Commissioner Rostin Behnam on February 7, 2025. From 2021 until January 20, 2025, Mr. Gillers served as Chief of Staff and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the agency. In that capacity, he served as the lead advisor to then-Chairman Behnam on legal, policy, and administrative matters, while overseeing daily agency operations and its 1,000 personnel. Mr. Gillers first joined the CFTC in July 2019 as Commissioner Behnam's Chief of Staff. During his tenure, Mr. Gillers managed various derivatives markets policy engagements covering digital assets, artificial intelligence, event contracts, market structure, cybersecurity, and environmental derivatives. Notably, he led the commission's review of voluntary carbon credit derivatives and directed the finalization of guidance on voluntary carbon credit derivative contracts. He also played an active role in digital asset regulatory policy, coordinating with internal divisions, other federal regulatory agencies, and Congressional committees on legislative frameworks. Before joining the CFTC in 2019, Mr. Gillers spent ten years on Capitol Hill handling financial services and energy market issues for the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources and the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. He worked on legislation including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, the Small Business Jobs Act of 2010, and the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act of 2015. Mr. Gillers, who previously practiced as a corporate attorney, holds a BA from Columbia College and a JD from Boston College Law School. The agency noted that he has not yet announced his next career plans.