SEC Former Chair Gary Gensler is now an MIT Professor

After helming the chair of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for four years under President Joe Biden, controversial former investment banker turned government official Gary Gensler has now returned to his academic role as a professor at the distinguished Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

As SEC chair, Gary locked horns with crypto community including businesses with his hardened stance on crypto regulations, often leading to him earning the scoff of investors. During his election campaign, President Donald Trump had vowed to fire Gensler on day one of him taking charge at the oval office. On January 18, 2025, Gensler had resigned on his own as Trump took the oath as 47th U.S. President.

Now, according to a latest statement released by MIT, Gary Gensler has accepted the position of Professor of Practice at the MIT Sloan School of Management. His new status as Professor of the Practice brings him back to the educational organization where he once taught and jointly managed ground-breaking endeavors including FinTech@CSAIL.

According to MIT, Gensler brings his experience in both governmental roles and finance to join the combined Global Economics and Management Group and Finance Group at MIT. In his academic role Gensler will study finance alongside AI technologies and financial technology applications with a public policy research element. As part of his responsibilities he will lead the FinTechAI@CSAIL effort at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) together with Professor Andrew W. Lo.

The SEC under Gensler faced extreme political evaluation especially from former U.S. president Donald Trump along with his comments about immediately firing Gensler upon becoming president again. Part of Trump’s criticism stemmed from the regulatory approach Gensler adopted by applying stronger rules to financial markets as well as digital assets. The move back to the MIT academic setting signifies Gensler’s departure from controversial financial regulation governance to join MIT’s innovative learning community.