US FTC’s Top Competition Official, To Retire

Holly Vedova, the top official in the US Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) Bureau of Competition, is set to retire after more than three decades at the agency, reported Bloomberg. 

Vedova has been a driving force behind some of the FTC’s most high-profile antitrust cases in recent years. She has been the bureau’s Acting Director since January 2017 and was responsible for leading the FTC’s litigation against Qualcomm in a lawsuit that accused the company of violating antitrust law.

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Holly Vedova is the Director of the Bureau of Competition. Holly served as former FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra’s chief attorney advisor on competition, and has served as attorney advisor to four commissioners since joining the FTC in 1990. In this role, Holly helped draft countless Commission statements, opinions, and speeches, and has played a key role in many of the agency’s policy-making processes. Holly started her career at the FTC right out of law school as an attorney in one of BC’s merger shops, and has also served as Counsel to the BC Director.

Vedova’s departure will give FTC Chair Lina Khan an opportunity to appoint a new bureau director. It is not yet clear who Khan will appoint to replace Vedova.