Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Acting Chair Maureen K. Ohlhausen recently appointed Thomas Pahl as acting director of the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection.
Pahl succeeds Jessica Rich, who was appointed director of the agency’s Consumer Protection Bureau in 2013 by former FTC Chair Edith Ramirez. Rich is leaving the FTC after 26 years with the agency.
Pahl has been a partner at the Washington, D.C. law firm of Arnall Golden Gregory LLP, working on consumer financial protection issues such as those relating to credit reporting and debt collection. He also has worked on debt collection issues at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
“I am thrilled to return to the FTC to assist Acting Chairman Ohlhausen in implementing her free-market, less regulatory agenda,” Pahl told Dodd Frank Update via email. “I hope to do so through focusing more of the FTC’s enforcement activity against scammers, articulating clearer standards to help legitimate businesses comply with the law, and advocating and implementing policies that protect consumers without imposing unnecessary or undue burdens on industry.”
Pahl previously held several different roles with the FTC, beginning in 1990, including assistant director of the Division of Advertising Practices and the Division of Financial Practices in the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
He also advised top agency officials on consumer protection matters and spent three years advising President Ronald Reagan’s appointee for FTC commissioner, Mary Azcuenaga. Pahl later served as an attorney advisor for Republican FTC Commissioner Orson Swindle for four years.
“Tom’s career demonstrates his continuing commitment to protecting consumers through active enforcement and advocacy that promotes a free and honest marketplace,” Ohlhausen said in a press release. “His thoughtful approach will help ensure consumers benefit from thriving competition and innovation. Tom’s talent, deep consumer protection experience, and strong principles make him perfect to lead the Bureau of Consumer Protection, and I’m very pleased to have him aboard.”
Pahl also previously served on the United States Senate Judiciary Committee under Chairman Orrin Hatch, focusing on antitrust and consumer privacy issues, and as an adjunct professor of law at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School. He also is a member of the Federalist Society.
During Rich’s tenure, she managed eight consumer protection divisions and eight regional offices charged with stopping consumer fraud and deception and protecting consumers’ privacy. Some of the most notable major law enforcement actions during her time as FTC Consumer Protection Bureau director included cases against Western Union, Volkswagen, Herbalife, Apple, Google and Amazon.
Prior to becoming director, Rich served in a number of senior roles at the FTC, including deputy director of the FTC’s Consumer Protection Bureau, associate director of the Division of Financial Practices and acting associate director and assistant director of the Division of Privacy and Identity Protection.
Rich created the FTC’s Office of Technology Research and Investigations (OTech) for the purpose of training staff and assisting with tech-related investigations, reports and public workshops.
“We are grateful to Jessica for her many years of service to the FTC and the public,” Ohlhausen said in the press release. “She is a pioneer in consumer protection who spearheaded major initiatives regarding consumers’ privacy, data security, and financial transactions. Many of the FTC’s programs bear her indelible mark.”