Janet D. Steiger

Janet D. Steiger was sworn in as a member of the Federal Trade Commission on August 11, 1989. She was nominated by President Bush. Commissioner Steiger served as Chairman of the Commission from August 1989 until April 1995.

Commissioner Steiger was Chairman of the Postal Rate Commission, by appointment of President Reagan, from March 1982 to August 1989. She also chaired the Congressionally mandated three-year Commission to Assess Veterans' Education Policy (1987-1989), which reported to the 100th Congress. A Republican, she was nominated by President Carter, and confirmed by the Senate, as a Postal Rate Commissioner in 1980. In 1985, the Federally Employed Women of Washington awarded her the Outstanding Woman in Government Award for 1984.

A member of Phi Beta Kappa, Commissioner Steiger received her B.A. from Lawrence University in 1961 and did postgraduate study at the University of Reading in England and at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She was a Fulbright Scholar, a Woodrow Wilson Scholar, and a member of the Lawrence Board of Trustees (1986-1989). Lawrence awarded her an honorary doctor of laws degree in 1992.

Before government service, Commissioner Steiger was cofounder of the WorkPlace, Inc., a Washington office-and-research facility. Born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Commissioner Steiger is the widow of Congressman William A. Steiger and the mother of their son, Bill.