Lina Khan

Lina Khan served as the Chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from 2021 to 2025, overseeing the enforcement of the nation’s antitrust and consumer protection laws. Nominated by President Joe Biden on March 22, 2021, she was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in on June 15, 2021, completing her term on January 20, 2025. Khan was appointed as co-chair of New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s all-women transition team in November 2025, where she will advise on economic policy and personnel.

During her leadership at the FTC, Khan focused on exercising the full suite of the agency’s statutory authorities. Her priority initiatives included tougher antitrust action, curbing non-compete clauses, protecting sensitive data and tackling illegal practices affecting affordable healthcare.

Khan’s career in antitrust began as a business reporter and researcher, where she focused on market consolidation at think tanks such as The New America Foundation and The Open Markets Institute. Her work also emerged during her time at Columbia Law School. Khan’s scholarship has been featured in top academic journals, including the Columbia Law Review, Harvard Law Review, University of Chicago Law Review, and The Yale Law Journal.

Her landmark article, Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox received the 2018 Antitrust Writing Award for Best Academic Unilateral Conduct Article. Her subsequent works, including The Separation of Platforms and Commerce and The Case for ‘Unfair Methods of Competition’ Rulemaking, garnered multiple accolades, including the 2019 Jerry S. Cohen Memorial Fund’s Best Antitrust Article on Remedies and the 2020 Antitrust Writing Award for Best General Antitrust Academic Article.

Before joining the FTC, Khan was counsel to the US House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law and served as an associate professor at Columbia Law School. Khan is a graduate of Williams College and Yale Law School.