Economics Director Howard Shelanski Departs FTC

Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Edith Ramirez announced today that Howard Shelanski, Director of the Bureau of Economics, is departing the agency today to become the Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory affairs in the Office of Management and Budget, a position to which the Senate confirmed him on June 27.

Pauline Ippolito will become Acting Director of the Bureau of Economics.

Shelanski has directed the Bureau of Economics since July 2012, on leave from Georgetown University where he is Professor of Law.  He previously served as the bureau’s Deputy Director for Antitrust from 2009-2011. During his years of service at the Commission, Shelanski has been instrumental in the agency’s enforcement and policy missions on both the competition and consumer protection sides of the FTC’s docket.

Before joining the FTC in 2009, Shelanski had been on the faculty at the University of California at Berkeley since 1997, with breaks from teaching to serve as Chief Economist of the Federal Communications Commission from 1999 to 2000 and as a Senior Economist for the President's Council of Economic Advisers at the White House from 1998 to 1999.

Ippolito, a nationally recognized scholar, has held a variety of management and staff positions while serving the FTC with distinction for 30 years. She received the Presidential Rank Award of Distinguished Executive, the highest award available to a government executive, for her contributions to improving consumer protection policy for the nation. Ippolito holds a doctorate from Northwestern University.
            
Like the FTC on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to press releases for the latest FTC news and resources.