New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has nominated Linda Lacewell to become Superintendent of the state’s Department of Financial Services.  Ms. Lacewell would replace Maria Vullo who announced last month that she will leave DFS on February 1.

Ms. Lacewell most recently served as Governor Cuomo’s Chief of Staff.  She previously served as executive director of a cancer foundation initiative in California and as Governor Cuomo’s Chief Risk Officer.  Before working in state government, Ms. Lacewell worked for a decade as a federal prosecutor in the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Last September, Ms. Vullo filed a second lawsuit in a New York federal district court to stop the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency from issuing special purpose national bank charters to fintech companies.  It has been suggested that Ms. Lacewell might take a more friendly view of fintech because of her prior involvement with OpenNY, an open data initiative.

Ms. Lacewell’s nomination must be approved by the New York Senate.