FTC Chairman Timothy J. Muris Appoints Senior Staff

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Timothy J. Muris, with the concurrence of his fellow Commissioners, has named a senior staff team with extensive experience in the private sector, in academia, and at the FTC.

Joseph J. Simons, Director of the Bureau of Competition, is rejoining the Commission from a partnership with Clifford Chance Rogers & Wells LLP. Previously at the Commission, Simons was the Bureau's Associate Director for Mergers in 1989 responsible for supervising numerous merger investigations, and previous to that, the Assistant Director for Evaluation overseeing analysis of all of the Competition Bureau's nonmerger matters. Along with a former chief economist of the Department of Justice's "DOJ" Antitrust Division, Simons developed a technique for applying the market definition test of the DOJ/FTC Horizontal Merger Guidelines, which has been adopted and used widely by both the Antitrust Division and the FTC, and also endorsed by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.

J. Howard Beales III, Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, previously served at the Commission from 1977 to 1987 in positions ranging from Associate Director for Policy and Evaluation, Acting Deputy Director, and Assistant to the Director in the Bureau of Consumer Protection to economist in the Bureau of Economics. During his tenure, he was instrumental in developing Commission policies that prevail today including, the Deception Policy Statement, the Advertising Substantiation Policy Statement. He also was instrumental in developing the Credit Practices Rule. Most recently, Beales was an associate professor of strategic management and public policy at The George Washington University.

David Scheffman, Director of the Bureau of Economics, served under five past FTC Chairmen in various senior positions between 1979 and 1988, including as Director of the Bureau of Economics. Scheffman has a Ph.D. in economics from M.I.T, and has held a number of academic appointments, including as a chaired professor in the business school at Vanderbilt University. Scheffman has authored a number of books and articles, including competition analysis, has served as an economic expert in litigation matters for both plaintiffs and defendants, and as a consultant to the legislature of the State of Alaska in connection with British Petroleum's attempted acquisition of ARCO Alaska. Scheffman will assume his responsibilities as of June 25.

William E. Kovacic, General Counsel, returns to the FTC from a professorship at The George Washington University Law School where he has been a faculty member since 1999. From 1979 to 1983, he worked at the FTC, first with the Bureau of Competition's Planning Office and later as an attorney advisor to Commissioner George W. Douglas. After leaving the FTC, Kovacic was an associate with the Washington D.C. office of Bryan Cave, where he practiced in the firm's antitrust and government contracts departments until joining George Mason University School of Law in 1986. Earlier in his career, he served for one year on the majority staff of the Subcommittee on Antitrust and Monopoly of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary.

Anna H. Davis, Director of Congressional Relations, previously served at the Commission between 1984 and 1989 and is a veteran of the FTC's Office of Public Affairs, the Division of Advertising Practices and the office she will direct. In 1989, Davis left the FTC to become director of the Office of Legislative Affairs at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Most recently, Davis was Director of JD Career Services at Georgetown University Law Center.

Other selections by Chairman Muris include: Rosemarie Straight to continue as Executive Director; Don Clark to continue as Secretary; Dan Caprio, Special Assistant to Commissioner Swindle, to serve as acting Director of Congressional Relations until Davis assumes her role full-time in early July; and Lois Greisman to be Acting Executive Assistant.