The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced last week that Tony Alexis, the acting director of enforcement, will become the CFPB’s next director of enforcement. Alexis succeeds Kent Markus, the bureau’s enforcement chief since January 2012. Marcus, who has been on medical leave for over a year, is expected to return to work in February as a senior adviser to Steve Antonakes, the bureau’s deputy director.

Alexis joined the CFPB in 2012 from Mayer Brown. Alexis was a partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office from 2008-2012, where he focused his practice on complex commercial litigation and white collar matters. Before joining Mayer Brown, Alexis held a variety of positions in the federal government. He was an assistant U.S. attorney in the District of Columbia as well as a trial attorney in the Commercial Litigation Branch of the U.S. Department of Justice. Alexis becomes the CFPB’s third chief of enforcement since the bureau’s inception in 2010, with Richard Cordray being the first and Marks being the second. The number of enforcement actions brought by the CFPB has steadily increased since 2012, and McGuireWoods expects the trend to continue with the appointment of Alexis.