Seeking to rebuild its battered reputation, the Securities and Exchange Commission has hired a hedge fund insider to improve its examinations group in New York.

Norm Champ, for the past decade the general counsel and compliance chief at hedge fund Chilton Investment Co., was named associate regional director for examinations at the regulator. He will begin to oversee inspections in the New York region in January, succeeding Tom Biolsi.

The SEC’s New York office bore much of the criticism leveled at the agency in the wake of its failure to catch the massive Ponzi scheme masterminded by Bernard Madoff.

“Norm brings to our inspection program an unusual diversity of experience—as general counsel of a multi-billion hedge fund complex, as a university lecturer, and as a policy thinker,” George Canellos, head of the SEC New York office, said.

In addition to serving as the top lawyer at Chilton, Champ is also on the board of industry lobbying group the Managed Funds Association. He is resigning from the MFA to join the SEC.