J. Russell McGranahan

J. Russell “Rusty” McGranahan became SEC General Counsel in January 2026. As the SEC’s chief legal officer, Mr. McGranahan oversees the provision of legal expertise and advice to the Office of the Chairman, Commissioners, and agency staff.

Mr. McGranahan’s career spans 30 years at a number of top companies and firms. He was recently the General Counsel of the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), setting the course for a number of key initiatives during the first 10 months of this Administration. Prior to GSA, Mr. McGranahan was the General Counsel of Focus Financial Partners, a wealth management firm. He was with Focus Financial for nine years, leading the legal function through an explosive period of growth, including its IPO in 2018 and going private transaction in 2023. Before Focus Financial, Mr. McGranahan spent nine years with BlackRock, serving as Managing Director, M&A Counsel, and Corporate Secretary.

Mr. McGranahan began his career at Skadden, Arps and at White & Case, and for three years was based in Eastern Europe where he worked on some of the first public offerings from the region.

Mr. McGranahan earned his J.D. from Yale Law School and his B.A., summa cum laude, in Economics and Politics from the Catholic University of America. Mr. McGranahan has also earned the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.