Edith Ramirez

Edith Ramirez was sworn in as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission on April 5, 2010, and served as Chairwoman from March 4, 2013 to January 25, 2017.

At the FTC, Commissioner Ramirez has focused on protecting consumers and promoting competition in the technology and healthcare sectors, safeguarding consumer privacy, and protecting vulnerable communities from deceptive and unfair practices. 

During Commissioner Ramirez’s tenure, the FTC has filed over 200 consumer protection and competition-related enforcement actions, obtaining more than one billion dollars in redress for consumers across the country and preventing anticompetitive consolidation and conduct. The Commission has also held numerous workshops and issued reports and guidance on a wide range of issues, including the Internet of Things, big data, data brokers, data security, health care, the sharing economy, online marketing, and debt collection. Commissioner Ramirez’s “Every Community Initiative” aims to ensure that the FTC’s efforts reach and protect the communities that are most affected by fraud and illegal conduct.

Commissioner Ramirez has testified before Congress on competition, privacy, and data security issues. She has also actively participated in various multilateral international forums, including the International Competition Network, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Asia-Pacific Privacy Authorities Forum, Latin American Competition Forum, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Data Privacy Subgroup, which developed the APEC Cross-Border Privacy Rules system. 

Ramirez is a recipient of the 2015 Trumpeter Award from the National Consumers League, awarded in recognition of her leadership and commitment to protecting American consumers and working families. She is also an Advisory Board member of Harvard University’s Journal of Technology Science.

Prior to joining the Commission, Ramirez was a litigation partner in the Los Angeles office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP. Before that, Ramirez was an associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP in Los Angeles. She clerked for the Hon. Alfred T. Goodwin in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Throughout her career, Ramirez has been active in a variety of professional and community activities, including serving on the Board of Commissioners for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the nation’s largest municipal utility.

Ramirez graduated from Harvard Law School cum laude, where she served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review, and holds an A.B. in History magna cum laude from Harvard College. She is a native of Southern California.