InfoBytes Blog
Biden announces key FTC, CFTC nominations
On September 13, President Biden nominated Alvaro Bedoya for Commissioner of the FTC. Bedoya would replace FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra, who was nominated as the permanent director of the CFPB (covered by InfoBytes here). Chopra currently awaits a Senate confirmation vote on his nomination to serve as the Bureau’s director.
Bedoya, a Georgetown University visiting professor of law, also founded the law school’s Center on Privacy & Technology. According to the administration’s announcement, Bedoya previously “co-led a coalition that successfully pressed an Internet giant to drop ads for online payday loans” and served as the first chief counsel to the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law. FTC Chair Lina M. Khan issued a statement following Bedoya’s nomination praising his “expertise on surveillance and data security.”
Additionally, Biden announced several CFTC Commissioner nominees: Kristin Johnson, Christy Goldsmith Romero, and Rostin Behnam, who currently serves as the agency’s acting chairman and has been nominated to be the permanent CFTC Chair. Behnam’s priorities include safeguarding customer protections, climate-related financial market risk, and diversity, equity, and inclusion in the financial markets.