FTC Chair Leibowitz Nominated for Second Term

This posting was written by Jeffrey May, Editor of CCH Trade Regulation Reporter.

The White House announced on March 4 that President Barack Obama intends to nominate FTC Chairman Jon D. Leibowitz for a second seven-year term at the Commission. The chairman's term expired last September.

Leibowitz was sworn in as a member of the Commission in September 2004. President George W. Bush nominated Leibowitz in April 2004. He was appointed during a congressional recess after his nomination—and the nomination of Deborah Platt Majoras to serve as the agency's chair—was stalled in the Senate.

Leibowitz was designated as FTC chairman by President Obama in March 2009.

Before his time at the Commission, Leibowitz served as vice president for congressional affairs for the Motion Picture Association of America from 2000 to 2004. Prior to that, he worked on Capitol Hill.

Leibowitz was the Democratic chief counsel and staff director for the U.S. Senate Antitrust Subcommittee from 1997 to 2000. He also worked for Senators Herb Kohl (D., Wis.) and Paul Simon (D., Ill.).