Leibowitz, Ohlhausen Confirmed as FTC Commissioners

This posting was written by John W. Arden.

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz and Maureen K. Ohlhausen were confirmed yesterday by the U.S. Senate to serve as FTC Commissioners. On voice votes, the Senate confirmed the nomination of Leibowitz to serve a second term as Chairman of the Commission and the nomination of Ohlhausen to serve as a Commissioner.

“My fellow Commissioners and I look forward to welcoming Maureen Ohlhausen as a new Commissioner,” said Leibowitz. “Her exception experience, knowledge, and leadership will be of great service to the Federal Trade Commission and American consumers.”

“I am humbled and grateful to the Members of the U.S. Senate for their confidence in my continued service at the nation’s premier consume protection agency,” he added.

Leibowitz has chaired the agency since 2009 and has been a commissioner since 2004. Under his leadership, the Commission has focused on stopping scams that prey on consumers during the economic downturn, preserving competition in the health care industry, restricting anticompetitive “pay-for-delay” patent settlements in the pharmaceutical industry, and promoting competition and innovation in the technology sector. He is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and New York University School of Law.

Ohlhausen, a partner at Wilkinson Barker Knauer LLP since 2009, was nominated to fill one of the two Commission positions reserved for Republicans. The other position is held by J. Thomas Rosch. At Wilkinson Barker, she has specialized in privacy, data protection, and cybersecurity. Prior to joining the firm, she spent 11 years at the FTC, as attorney advisor to Commissioner Orson Swindle, head of the FTC Internet Access Task Director of the Office of Policy Planning, and Director of the Office of Policy Planning.

She is a senior editor of the American Bar Association Antitrust Law Journal and has taught privacy law and unfair trade practices as an adjunct professor at George Mason University School of Law. Ohlhausen is a graduate of University of Virginia and George Mason University School of Law