Biography of Deborah Platt Majoras

Deborah Platt Majoras was sworn in on August 16, 2004, as Chairman of the Federal Trade Commission.

Majoras joined the FTC from Jones Day in Washington, DC, where she served as a partner in the firm’s antitrust section. While at Jones Day, she worked on a variety of antitrust counseling and civil and criminal litigation matters, including mergers and acquisitions, monopolization, price-fixing, distribution issues, and governmental investigations. Majoras also was a member of the firm’s technology issues practice and has participated in a variety of non-antitrust commercial disputes and criminal cases, including fraud, securities violations, and employment discrimination.

In April 2001, Majoras was appointed deputy assistant attorney general at the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division. She was named principal deputy in November 2002. During her three-year tenure, she oversaw matters involving numerous industries including software, financial networks, defense, health care, media and entertainment, banking, and industrial equipment. She also served as chair of the International Competition Network’s (ICN) Merger Working Group and oversaw policy initiatives such as the FTC/DOJ Health Care Hearings, DOJ’s Merger Review Process Initiative, and the Mergers Best Practices Project. She is a frequent speaker on competition policy to national and international audiences.

Majoras graduated summa cum laude from Westminster College and received her J.D. from the University of Virginia in 1989, where she was awarded Order of the Coif and served as an editor of UVA’s Law Review. She is a member of the American Bar Association’s Section of Antitrust Law, where she recently served as vice chair of the Section 2 Committee and as a member of the Long-Range Planning Committee. Majoras also served as a non-governmental advisor to the ICN and was named by President Bush to serve on the Antitrust Modernization Commission.

Majoras resides in McLean, Va. with her husband, John Majoras.