The U.S. International Trade Commission today held a reception honoring former Commissioner Carol T. Crawford, who has left the Commission after eight years of service as a Commissioner.

Crawford has announced that she is heading into the private sector. She will be a Distinguished Visiting Professor at George Mason Law School in Arlington, Virginia, teaching international trade. She has also become a Director of the European Institute, and she will chair the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy's Section on International and National Security Law. She will also pursue a variety of other private sector activities.

Crawford, a Republican of Virginia, was nominated to the United States International Trade Commission by President Bush in January 1991 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on November 20, 1991. She was sworn in as a member of the Commission on November 22, 1991, for a term that expired on June 16, 1999. She continued to serve, as allowed by statute, until her successor, Deanna Tanner Okun, was sworn in on Monday, January 3, 2000.

Previously, Crawford served as Assistant Attorney General of the United States, where she headed the Justice Department's Office of Legislative Affairs and was responsible for relations between the Justice Department and the Congress. From 1985 to 1989, she served as Associate Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under President Ronald Reagan. One of four Associate Directors charged with preparing the President's budget submission to Congress, her budget and policy responsibilities included five cabinet level departments (Justice, Treasury, Transportation, Commerce, and HUD) and related agencies.

Previously, Crawford was Director of the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Bureau of Consumer Protection, the first woman to hold that position (1983 to 1985). There, she headed the FTC's law enforcement efforts involving false advertising, federal credit law violations, and unfair and deceptive trade practices. Prior to her work at the FTC, she was engaged in the private practice of law in Washington, D.C., at the firm of Collier, Shannon, Rill and Scott, and was Senior Legislative Assistant to Senator Bob Packwood.

Crawford is a trustee of The Barry Goldwater Chair of American Institutions at Arizona State University. She is a member of the Dean's Advisory Council of the Washington College of Law and serves on the Board of Washington's Historic George Town Club. She has spoken widely, here and abroad, on regulatory and trade issues.

Crawford is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College (BA, 1965) and the Washington College of Law of American University (J.D. Magna Cum Laude, 1978). She is a native of Mt. Holly, New Jersey.