The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Thursday it has appointed former futures trader Steven Schoenfeld to serve as the new director of its Division of Market Oversight.

Schoenfeld, who now serves as president of the consulting firm Global Index Strategies, will succeed current director and CFTC veteran Richard Shilts. Shilts will now serve as a deputy director of the division.

"I am pleased that Steven will be joining our team and I look forward to working closely with him to modernize regulatory oversight of our critical markets," CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler said. "Steven brings a depth and breadth of industry knowledge that will be invaluable to the CFTC as we fulfill our mission to protect the American people by lowering risk, promoting transparency and protecting market integrity."

The CFTC's Market Oversight Division is in charge of market surveillance, product review and market compliance issues. It is responsible for ensuring that markets are accurately reflecting supply and demand fundamentals. It is also the division that has been collecting quarterly data from swap dealers to get a better picture of the over-the-counter market trading activity by index investors.

Before serving as president of Global Index Strategies, which specializes in financial product development, Schoenfeld worked as a chief investment officer for global quantitative management at Northern Trust Corp. (NTRS), a managing director at Barclays Global Investors, an investment officer at the World Bank's International Finance Corp. and as a futures trader at Singapore Exchange Ltd. (S68.SG).

He was a Fulbright scholar in economics at the National University of Singapore and received an M.A. in international relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

-By Sarah N. Lynch, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6634; sarah.lynch@dowjones.com.