FTC Bureau of Competition Deputy Director Barry Nigro Returns to Private Practice.

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Deborah Platt Majoras announced today that
Barry Nigro, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Competition, will be leaving the FTC effective November 18, 2005, and returning to private practice with the Washington, D.C., office of Willkie Farr & Gallagher. Nigro has served as the Bureau’s deputy director since July 2003.

For the past two years, Nigro supervised and worked with the Bureau’s merger and non-merger enforcement divisions, and played an important role in the areas of remedies and compliance, pre-merger notification, and policy development. In the merger arena, he oversaw the investigation and litigation of mergers and acquisitions in industries including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices, healthcare, defense, aerospace, music, tobacco, chemicals, and high technology.

With Nigro’s support, the FTC obtained favorable decisions or relief for consumers in cases such as Chevron/Unocal, Aspen Technology/Hyprotech, Sanofi/Aventis, and Cephalon/Cima, among others. He also contributed to the Commission’s ongoing efforts to streamline and improve the merger review process, serving on the Bureau’s merger process task force, and oversaw complaint counsel’s management of the administrative complaint filed against Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Corporation/Highland Park Hospital, now on appeal before the Commission from an initial decision favorable to complaint counsel.

Nigro played an important role in non-merger law enforcement and policy development. He contributed to many non-merger matters, including numerous cases against health care networks allegedly engaged in price fixing, such as Piedmont Health Alliance. He was instrumental in developing workshops and joint programs with the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division, each of which facilitated improved communication and the sharing of ideas and best practices between the FTC and DOJ.

The FTC works for the consumer to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices in the marketplace and to provide information to help consumers spot, stop and avoid them. To file a complaint, or to get free information on any of 150 consumer topics, call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357), or use the complaint form at http://www.ftc.gov. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC’s Bureau of Competition seeks to prevent business practices that restrain competition. The Bureau carries out its mission by investigating alleged law violations and, when appropriate, recommending that the Commission take formal enforcement action.