Maureen Ohlhausen Sworn in as Federal Trade Commissioner

Rejoins FTC After Recently Serving as Director of Office of Policy Planning

April 7, 2012

Chairman Jon Leibowitz joined Maureen K. Ohlhausen at the Federal Trade Commission, as she was sworn in as the agency's newest commissioner. President Obama named Ohlhausen, a Republican, to a term that ends on September 25, 2018. She was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate on March 29, 2012.

"We are very pleased to welcome Maureen back to the FTC," Chairman Leibowitz said. "She is going to be a terrific Commissioner, with expertise in both protecting consumers and ensuring competition."

Ohlhausen has been a partner at Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP since 2009, focusing on privacy, data protection, and cybersecurity. She previously served for 11 years at the FTC, most recently as Director of the Office of Policy Planning from 2004 to 2008, leading the FTC's Internet Access Task Force. She also formerly was an attorney advisor for former Commissioner Orson Swindle. Before joining the agency's General Counsel's Office in 1997, she spent five years at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, serving as a law clerk for Judge David B. Sentelle. Ohlhausen previously clerked for Judge Robert Yock of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims from 1991 to 1992.

Ohlhausen graduated with distinction from George Mason University School of Law in 1991, having graduated with honors from the University of Virginia in 1984. She previously was a senior editor of the Antitrust Law Journal and a member of the American Bar Association Task Force on Competition and Public Policy.