His fellow commissioners Monday elected Commissioner Mark P. Wetjen to serve as interim chairman of the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) upon termination of Chairman Gary Gensler’s term at the end of the year.

Timothy Massad, a Treasury Department official heavily involved in the federal bank bailout program, who was nominated by President Obama to replace Gensler, still awaits a Senate confirmation hearing (see Daily GPI, Nov. 12).

“I am honored to have been chosen to serve as acting chairman,” said Wetjen. “I thank my colleagues, Commissioners Chilton and O’Malia, for their support and look forward to working collaboratively to oversee the ongoing implementation of the Dodd-Frank Act and the continuation of the CFTC’s critical mission. I also would like to thank Chairman Gensler for his leadership of this agency and of the financial reform effort in the aftermath of the financial crisis. I am eager to continue that effort in consultation with my fellow commissioners.”

Wetjen was sworn in as a commissioner of the CFTC on Oct. 25, 2011. Prior to his CFTC service, he worked in the U.S. Senate as a senior leadership staffer advising on all financial services-related matters. Before his service in the U.S. Senate, Wetjen was a lawyer in private practice.

J. Christopher Giancarlo, executive vice president of brokerage firm GFI Group Inc., who was nominated to replace Republican Commissioner Jill Sommers last summer, also has not been confirmed (see Daily GPI, Aug. 7).

In another interim appointment, Sayee Srinivasan will be acting chief economist, Gensler announced Monday. Srinivasan joined CFTC in 2012 in the Office of the Chief Economist. Prior to joining the Commission, he worked at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the Bombay Stock Exchange, the National Stock Exchange of India and OptiMark Technologies.