Former FTC Chairman Named Recipient of 2006 Kirkpatrick Award

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras today named Calvin J. Collier the 2006 recipient of the Miles W. Kirkpatrick Award. Citing Collier’s significant contributions to the agency and its mission to protect consumers and encourage competition, Chairman Majoras said, “In presenting this award to former Chairman Collier, we recognize his significant vision and lasting contributions to the FTC, made throughout a career that spanned four decades.”

Collier, who was Chairman of the FTC in 1976-77, is a Duke University School of Law graduate who began his career as law clerk to Judge Harold Leventhal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit before joining the law firm of Kirkland & Ellis. In 1969, he joined the U.S. Department of Commerce, serving as Special Assistant to the General Counsel, Special Assistant to the Under Secretary, and Deputy Under Secretary. Collier moved to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in 1973 as Director of Urban Program Coordination, and then joined the FTC as General Counsel, a position he subsequently held at the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. In 1978, Collier became a Visiting Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a partner in Hughes Hubbard & Reed. From 1988 until his retirement in 2004, he was Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary at Kraft Foods Inc.

Collier was an Adjunct Professor of Law at Duke, where he served on the Advisory board, and a Guest Lecturer at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Business. He also served as a board member of Chicago Metropolitan Family Services, the Food Processors Association, Transora, and Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. Collier also was Chairman of the Government Affairs Committees of the Grocery Manufacturers and Food Processors Associations, the Council of Better Business Bureaus, and the National Advertising Review Council.

The Kirkpatrick Award was established in 2001 to honor the commitment, talent, and contributions of individuals who, throughout their public and private careers, have made lasting and significant contributions to the FTC. It is named for Miles Kirkpatrick, a legendary figure among the antitrust community because of his dynamic leadership of the American Bar Association’s 1969 Commission to study the FTC. The Kirkpatrick Report resulted in a mandate for substantial reform and reorganization of the agency, including the recruitment of highly qualified and motivated new talent.

Previous recipients of the Kirkpatrick Award are Basil J. Mezines, Robert Pitofsky, Jodie Bernstein, and Caswell O. Hobbs, III.