Demetrios “Jim” Logothetis, a 40-year veteran of Ernst & Young who retired as an audit partner from the Big Four firm in 2019, was picked as the new chairman of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, according to a Jan. 30 announcement from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which oversees the U.S. audit regulator.
The SEC also announced Friday that Mark Calabria, Kyle Hauptman, and Steven Laughton would be joining the regulator’s board, replacing board members Christina Ho, Kara Stein, and Anthony Thompson, who were appointed during the Biden administration.
George Botic, who has served as acting chairman of the PCAOB since last July when then-chairman Erica Williams resigned, will keep his position as a board member and remain acting chair until Logothetis is sworn in.
“I am confident that this new board will usher in a new day at the PCAOB—one of sensible, efficient oversight of auditors,” SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said in a statement on Friday.
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As Amanda Iacone of Bloomberg Tax pointed out, EY alums now hold three of the top financial reporting roles in the accounting profession. Richard Jones, a former EY partner, has led the Financial Accounting Standards Board as chairman since July 2020, and Kurt Hohl, also a former partner at EY, has served as the SEC’s chief accountant since July of last year.
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“We look forward to working with the new board in connection with furthering the PCAOB’s central mission of promoting investor protection,” Hohl said in a statement on Jan. 30.
Logothetis’s term as chairman will conclude on Oct. 24, 2030. During his career at EY, he served as lead partner on some of the firm’s largest audit clients, including The Coca-Cola Co., Whirlpool Corp., Newell Rubbermaid, Brunswick Corp., Grainger, and Molex Electronics.
He held a number of leadership roles with the accounting 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.
Logothetis also served as senior advisor in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of the Assistant Secretary and CFO, where he led the Audit Coordination Committee for Ginnie Mae.
He currently serves on the board of Republic Bank of Chicago, where he chairs the audit committee, and on the advisory council of CrossCountry Consulting, a privately owned consultancy firm.
Logothetis holds an MBA in accounting, finance, and international business from the University of Chicago Booth Graduate School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in accountancy from DePaul University.
The PCAOB is governed by a board of five members, two of whom must be CPAs, in accordance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Logothetis and Botic are both CPAs.
Meet the new board members
Mark Calabria
He takes over Anthony Thompson’s term that expires on Oct. 24, 2027. 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 bachelor’s degree and a PhD in economics from George Mason University.
Kyle Hauptman
His term ends on Oct. 24, 2029. Hauptman is currently the chairman of the National Credit Union Administration. He was originally appointed by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate to serve as a NCUA board member in December 2020 and was elevated to chairman in January 2025.
Hauptman previously served on the staff of the Senate Banking Committee—as a staff director and as economic policy counselor to Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR). He has also held positions at the American Enterprise Institute, Jefferies and Co., and Lehman Brothers.
He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a bachelor’s degree from University of California, Los Angeles.
Steven Laughton
He takes over Kara Stein’s term that ends on Oct. 24, 2026. Laughton most recently served as board counsel to now-former PCAOB board member Christina Ho, who announced last December she was stepping down from the board. Her last day was Jan. 31. Ho’s term on the board expired on Oct. 24, 2025.
Prior to joining the PCAOB in 2022, Laughton spent more than 30 years with the Treasury Department, where his roles 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 bachelor’s degree in political science and French from Tufts University and a juris doctor from the Case Western Reserve University School of Law.
The SEC last month approved the PCAOB’s $362.1 million budget for 2026. The regulator’s budget was slashed 9.4% from the prior year, and it includes a 52% reduction in compensation for the chairman and a 42% decrease in compensation for the other board members.
“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,” Atkins said. “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.”
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