Edith Ramirez | |
---|---|
Chair of the Federal Trade Commission | |
In office March 4, 2013 –January 25, 2017 | |
President | Barack Obama Donald Trump |
Preceded by | Jon Leibowitz |
Succeeded by | Maureen Ohlhausen |
Member of the Federal Trade Commission | |
In office April 5,2010 –February 10,2017 | |
President | Barack Obama Donald Trump |
Preceded by | Jon Leibowitz |
Succeeded by | Rebecca Slaughter |
Personal details | |
Born | San Clemente,California,U.S. | May 28,1968
Political party | Democratic |
Education | Harvard University (BA,JD) |
Edith Ramirez (born May 28,1968) is an American attorney who served as a member of the Federal Trade Commission from 2010 to 2017. Ramirez served as FTC Chair from 2013 to 2017,the first person from an ethnic minority to lead the agency. [1]
The second of four children born to Mexican immigrants from Mexico City,Ramirez was born May 28,1968,in South Laguna,a neighborhood of Laguna Beach,California. [2] Ramirez was raised in San Clemente,California,and attended San Clemente High School,graduating in 1985 as the class valedictorian. [3] Growing up,Ramirez's family spoke Spanish at home,and she has stated her background as a child of immigrants has given her "a broader perspective" in her professional life. [4]
In 1989,she graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University,where she received a bachelor's degree in history. Ramirez received her legal education from Harvard Law School,where she served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review . She befriended future President Barack Obama,who would later appoint her to the Federal Trade Commission. [5]
After graduating from Harvard Law School cum laude in 1992,Ramirez clerked for Alfred T. Goodwin in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1992 to 1993. [6] From 1993 to 1996,Ramirez was an associate at Gibson,Dunn &Crutcher,LLP in Los Angeles.
Ramirez later became a partner at the Los Angeles office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart &Sullivan,LLP,where she represented clients in intellectual property,antitrust,unfair competition,and Lanham Act (trademark) matters. [7] Clients of Ramirez included entertainment corporation The Walt Disney Company and weapons manufacturer Northrop Grumman. [8]
In 2008,Ramirez joined Obama's presidential campaign as director of hispanic outreach in California. [9] Ramirez previously served on the Board of Commissioners for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power,the nation's largest municipal utility. [10]
In 2009,President Barack Obama nominated Ramirez to replace Deborah Platt Majoras on as a member of the Federal Trade Commission. [11] Ramirez was officially sworn into the body on April 5,2010,and in 2013 was chosen to replace Jon Leibowitz as FTC Chair. Some commentators were surprised by the selection of Ramirez as FTC Chair,with many observers expecting fellow Commissioner Julie Brill to be selected instead. [12]
Ramirez's term was set to expire on September 25,2015. However,Ramirez remained in the position for almost two additional years as she awaited the appointment of a successor,leaving the body on February 10,2017. [13] While on the FTC,Ramirez called to broaden the definition of "Personally Identifiable Information" in response to the growing complexity of data ecosystems and connected devices. [14] According to a Politico report released in 2021,Ramirez joined with two Republican Commissioners in opposition to filing charges against Google following the FTC's antitrust probe of the company. [15]
Following her tenure at the FTC,she joined the law firm of Hogan Lovells as a partner in their Washington,D.C.,office. In this capacity,she co-heads the firm’s Antitrust,Competition and Economic Regulation (ACER) practice,and also works within the firm's Privacy and Cybersecurity practice. [16]
Following the 2017 Equifax data breach,Ramirez represented Equifax in the face of privacy charges stemming from the breach. [17] At Hogan Lovells,Ramirez represented Google-owned video platform YouTube in the face of a class action lawsuit over children's privacy. [18] In response to "revolving door" allegations,Hogan Lovells clarified that Ramirez's work on behalf of YouTube only applied to the class action lawsuit it faced,not the FTC's probe of the company for child safety concerns. [17]
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. The FTC shares jurisdiction over federal civil antitrust law enforcement with the Department of Justice Antitrust Division. The agency is headquartered in the Federal Trade Commission Building in Washington,DC.
TimothyShiou-Ming Wu is a Taiwanese-American legal scholar who served as Special Assistant to the President for Technology and Competition Policy at the United States from 2021 to 2023. He is also a professor of law at Columbia University and a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times. He is known legally and academically for significant contributions to antitrust and communications policy,coining the phrase "network neutrality" in his 2003 law journal article,Network Neutrality,Broadband Discrimination. In the late 2010s,Wu was a leading advocate for an antitrust lawsuit directed at the breakup of Facebook.
Christine A. Varney is an American antitrust attorney who served as the U.S. assistant attorney general of the Antitrust Division for the Obama Administration and as a Federal Trade commissioner in the Clinton Administration. Since August 2011,Varney has been a partner of the New York law firm Cravath,Swaine &Moore,where she chairs the antitrust department.
Jonathan David Leibowitz is an American attorney who served under President Barack Obama as Chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from 2009 to 2013. Leibowitz was appointed to the commission in 2004,and resigned in 2013. During Leibowitz's tenure,the FTC brought privacy cases against Google,Facebook and others for violating consumer privacy,as well as enforcement against "pay-for-delay" deals in which pharmaceutical companies paid competitors to stay out of the market. Prior to joining the FTC,Leibowitz was Vice President for Congressional Affairs from 2000 to 2004 of the MPAA.
William Evan Kovacic is an American legal scholar who served as a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from 2006 to 2011,including as its chairman from 2008 to 2009. He is a member of the Republican Party.
Pamela LeDeyce Jones Harbour is an American lawyer who served as a member of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from 2003 to 2009. As of 2021,Harbour is one of just three African-Americans to have served as a member of the FTC. Additionally,she is one of the just three political independents to serve on the body as of 2017.
Julie Simone Brill is an American lawyer who serves as Chief Privacy Officer and Corporate Vice President for Global Privacy,Safety and Regulatory Affairs at Microsoft. Prior to her role at Microsoft,Brill was nominated by President Barack Obama on November 16,2009,and confirmed unanimously by the US Senate to serve as Commissioner of the US Federal Trade Commission on March 3,2010. Brill served as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from 2010 to 2016.
Hogan Lovells is an American-British law firm co-headquartered in London and Washington,DC. The firm was formed in 2010 by the merger of the American law firm Hogan &Hartson and the British law firm Lovells. As of 2022,the firm employed about 2,500 lawyers,making it the sixth largest law firm in the world.
Maureen Kraemer Ohlhausen is an American lawyer who is a former Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission,a position she held from April 4,2012,to September 25,2018. On January 26,2017,President Donald Trump designated Ohlhausen to serve as Acting Chairwoman of the FTC. In January 2018,she was nominated by President Trump to a seat on the United States Court of Federal Claims. Ohlhausen withdrew her nomination for the federal judiciary in December 2018,opting instead to join Baker Botts as partner and co-chair of the firm's antitrust practice.
Joshua Daniel Wright is an American economist and legal scholar who served as a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from 2013 to 2015. At the time of his nomination,Wright was the fourth economist to serve as a commissioner of the FTC.
Terrell McSweeny is an American attorney who served as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission from 2014 until 2018.
Lina M. Khan is a British-born American legal scholar serving as chair of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) since 2021. She is also an associate professor of law at Columbia Law School.
Rebecca Kelly Slaughter is an American attorney who is a current commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission. Slaughter was previously the acting chair of the Federal Trade Commission from January 21,2021,to June 15,2021.
The New Brandeis or neo-Brandeis movement is an antitrust academic and political movement in the United States which argues that excessively centralized private power is dangerous for economical,political and social reasons. Initially called hipster antitrust by its detractors,as also referred to as the "Columbia school" or "Neo-Progressive antitrust," the movement advocates that United States antitrust law return to a broader concern with private power and its negative effects on market competition,income inequality,consumer rights,unemployment,and wage growth.
Christine Smith Wilson is an American attorney and former government official. A member of the Republican Party,Wilson was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2018 to serve on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Wilson resigned from the FTC in 2023.
Noah Joshua Phillips is an American attorney who served on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from 2018 to 2022. Phillips was appointed to this position in 2018 by President Donald Trump,and was confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate. During the Biden administration,Phillips was one of two Republicans on the FTC,along with fellow commissioner Christine S. Wilson.
Thomas Barrett Leary was an American attorney who served as a member of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from November 17,1999 until his resignation from the body December 31,2005.
Dennis Alden Yao is an American academic who served as a member of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from 1991 to 1994. A member of the Democratic Party,Yao was the first Asian American to serve on the FTC and the third career economist to serve on the body,which has generally been composed of attorneys. Yao is currently the Lawrence E. Fouraker Professor of Business Administration and Chair of the Doctoral Programs at Harvard Business School.
Alvaro Martin Bedoya is an American attorney and government official who has served on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) since 2022.
Executive Order 14036,titled Executive Order on Promoting Competition in the American Economy and sometimes referred to as the Executive Order on Competition,is the fifty-first executive order signed by U.S. President Joe Biden. Signed on July 9,2021,the order serves to establish a "whole-of-government effort to promote competition in the American economy" by encouraging stronger enforcement of antitrust law.
This article uses public domain material from the Federal Trade Commission Website.