FTC Announces Senior Staff Appointments

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon Leibowitz has announced the appointments of Cecelia Prewett as Director of the Office of Public Affairs, Jessica Rich and Charles Harwood as Deputy Directors in the Bureau of Consumer Protection, and Norm Armstrong, Jr. as Deputy Director in the Bureau of Competition.

“We are very fortunate to have these longtime public servants on our management team,” Chairman Leibowitz said. “Their experience, creativity, and commitment will ensure the continued effectiveness of the Commission’s work on behalf of American consumers.”

Prewett has 15 years of experience in communications. She joins the agency from the American Association for Justice, where she was Vice President for Strategic Communications. Her extensive experience includes serving as a designated senior spokesperson for AARP, and as senior communications manager for the State of Illinois. Prewett worked on Capitol Hill for seven years, serving as communications director to several highly active and visible Members of Congress, including former U.S. Representative Rahm Emanuel, as well as U.S. Representatives Carolyn McCarthy and Bob Filner. Early in her career, she worked in the Tennessee House of Representatives. Prewett earned her masters in political management from The George Washington University, and her undergraduate degree in communications from the University of Tennessee.

As Acting Associate Director of the Division of Privacy and Identity Protection in the Bureau of Consumer Protection since June, and formerly as an Assistant Director in that division and the Division of Financial Practices since 1998, Rich handled or supervised a variety of matters, including enforcement actions against such companies as ChoicePoint, Microsoft, DSW Shoe Warehouse, TJX, and LexisNexis; rulemakings to develop the FTC’s Safeguards Rule, Disposal Rule, Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act Rule, and Personal Health Records Rule; and policy initiatives, such as the FTC’s upcoming “Exploring Privacy” Roundtables and Behavioral Advertising Project. She previously was a legal advisor to the Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection and a staff attorney in one of the agency’s consumer fraud divisions. Before joining the FTC, Rich worked in private practice in New York City. She is a graduate of New York University Law School and Harvard University.

Harwood formerly spent 20 years as Director of the FTC’s Northwest Regional Office in Seattle, where he led law enforcement and consumer education efforts, often in cooperation with state authorities, involving a wide range of antitrust and consumer protection issues. In 2001,

Harwood received the FTC Chairman’s Award for his service to the agency and the public. In connection with the Northwest Regional Office’s extensive work against telemarketing and cross-border fraud in cooperation with authorities in Western Canada, the office earlier this year received a Unit Commendation from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Harwood joined the FTC in 1989 after six years as a counsel to the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, including one year as the Packwood Law Fellow. Harwood is also a member of the U.S. Department of Interior’s Indian Arts and Crafts Board, a position he was appointed to in 2008 by former Secretary of the Interior Kempthorne. He is a graduate of Willamette University College of Law and Whitman College.

Armstrong has served as Acting Deputy Director in the Bureau of Competition since August 2008, managing its Mergers II (chemicals), Mergers III (energy) and Mergers IV (hospital and retail) Divisions and supervising a variety of merger enforcement actions, including Whole Foods/Wild Oats, CSL/Talecris, CCC/Mitchell, CRH/Pavestone, and Carilion, as well as Herff Jones/American Achievement, Pfizer/Wyeth, BASF/CIBA, and Dow/Rohm and Haas. In 2007 he became Deputy Assistant Director of the Mergers IV Division, where he was one of the lead litigators on the Inova/Prince William matter, having worked previously as Counsel to the Director that year, and as Liaison to the Department of Defense from 2001 through 2006. Armstrong joined the agency in 1995 as a staff attorney. He is a graduate of Howard University School of Law and the University of Virginia.

Chairman Leibowitz also announced the appointments of Joel Winston as Associate Director of the Division of Financial Practices, Maneesha Mithal as Associate Director of the Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, and Mark Eichorn as Assistant Director of the Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, all within the Bureau of Consumer Protection. Winston formerly held several positions within the Bureau of Consumer Protection, including associate director of two divisions, assistant director of a third division, and assistant deputy director of the Bureau. Mithal has been serving as an Assistant Director of the Division of Privacy and Identity Protection, having been the Bureau’s Chief of Staff and a manager in its former international division. Eichorn has been serving as an Attorney Advisor to the Chairman and formerly worked in the Division of Advertising Practices.