Carol Browner, wife of former Long Island Congressman Tom Downey, and President-elect Obama's pick for Director of Environmental Protection Agency, left, and Mary Schapiro, former Babylonian, and the new head of the Federal Securities and Exchange Commission in the Obama administriton, right. Remember Tempus Fugit? It was a very popular antique shop in the Village of Babylon for a number of years until the owner, Bob Schapiro, moved to Washington D.C. to be near his daughter, Mary, several years ago. It was announced in Newsday last week that Mary Schapiro has been named by President-elect Barack Obama as head of the Federal Securities and Exchange Commission, where she served as a commissioner after being appointed in 1988 by President Ronald Reagan. She was reappointed by President George Bush in 1989, and named Acting Chairman by President Clinton in 1993.

According to her father, Mary Schapiro was always a high achiever, even as she grew up and went to school in Babylon. She was captain of every woman's athletic team at Babylon Senior High School, which she attended, he said. "And she was always at or pretty near the top of her class," he added.

Schapiro was a classmate of Babylonian Aaron Stein, who remembers her as the most "competent, most ethical, most intelligent person" he ever met.

"It was amazing being in class with her," he said, adding that he has e-mailed all of the members of their class to let them know the good news. "We have done some checking and to our knowledge this position is the highest ever achieved by a Babylon High School graduate," he said. "We are all very proud of her."

Obama said that Schapiro was known as a regulator "who's both smart and tough - so much so that she's been criticized by the same industry insiders who we need to get tough on."

"For years, she's used her position to educate investors about market risks, warn seniors and employers about retirement scams, and call for increased regulation of mortgage brokers long before this housing crisis hit," he said. "I know that Mary will provide the new ideas, new reforms, and new spirit of accountability that the SEC desperately needs so that fraud like the Madoff scandal doesn't happen again."

Prior to her appointment, Schapiro served as CEO of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the largest non-governmental regulator for all securities firms doing business with the U.S. Schapiro joined the organization in 1996 as President of NASD Regulation and was named Vice Chairman in 2002, according to FINRA. Before assuming her present duties, she was Chairman of the federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission, having been appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1994.

In January 2008, Schapiro was appointed by President George W. Bush to the President's Advisory Council on Financial Literacy, a 19-member council formed to promote and enhance financial literacy among Americans. She is also an active member of the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and was Chairman of the IOSCO SRO Consultative Committee from 2002 until 2006.

Following her graduation from Babylon High School she attended Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1977. She earned a Juris Doctor degree (with honors) from George Washington University in 1980. In 2008, she received a Visionary Award from the National Council on Economic Education (NCEE), honoring her as a "champion of economic empowerment."

There's more to the Babylon- Washington D.C. connection. President-elect Obama has named Carol Browner, the wife of former Amityville and West Islip resident and former lawmaker Tom Downey, Environmental Protection Agency Director. Browner served as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency dur ing the Cl inton Administration and is the longest-serving administrator in the history of the agency, staying through both terms of the Clinton presidency.

Her husband Tom, a 1966 graduate of West Islip High School and St. John's University Law School, is a former S.C. Leg., and longtime Congressman in the 2nd Congressional District, which covers the Town of Babylon. After his defeat for reelection in 1992, Downey remained in Washington. In 1993 he founded Downey McGrath Group, Inc., a Washington-based bipartisan government affairs consulting firm providing public policy expertise to business, labor, not-for-profits, and other organizations.

Carolyn James contributed to this story