Feb 28, 2013 - NHLA Congratulates First Latina Nominated to Chair the Federal Trade Commission

Edith Ramirez, the first Latina to serve on the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, is to be named as Chair of the FTC. Photo Credit: Harvard Law School http://hvrd.me/YD0IRo. PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION February 28, 2013

NHLA Congratulates First Latina Nominated to Chair the Federal Trade Commission

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Hector Sanchez, Chair of the National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA), a coalition of thirty of the nation's leading Hispanic organizations, released the following statement:

"We are heartened to see the good news that President Barack Obama intends to nominate current Federal Trade Commissioner Edith Ramirez to serve as Chair of the FTC. Her appointment in 2010 as Commissioner was historic, and she will be making history again as she moves up the ranks to become the first Latina to chair this critical agency dedicated to preventing deceptive business practices, protecting consumers and supporting legitimate business activity.

"As a Commissioner, Ms. Ramirez has demonstrated a unique ability to integrate into the FTC’s work additional oversight to help non-English speaking consumers, Latino businesses, and those victimized by fraudulent immigration service scams and deceptive home mortgage claims. A strong advocate for online privacy and children, she has cracked down on websites unlawfully collecting personal information from children and actively worked to urge the food and media industries to help tackle the issue of childhood obesity through self-regulation of their marketing practices.

"We are confident that under Ms. Ramirez’s leadership the FTC will strengthen its role in protecting America’s diverse consumers and businesses. The NHLA member organizations congratulate Ms. Ramirez on today’s announcement and look forward to more positive news coming out of the White House regarding the appointment of Latinos to other positions -- and in particular to positions on the President’s Cabinet."

With Hilda Solis and Ken Salazar stepping down from their posts as Cabinet secretaries and the nation facing critical policy decisions around issues like sequestration and immigration reform, NHLA strongly believes the Latino voice must be represented throughout government up to the highest levels of federal leadership. We are pleased to see movement in the appointment of Latinos and hope this is a trend that leads to the inclusion of three Latinos in the President's Cabinet.

To do its part in strengthening the pipeline of Latinos entering government, NHLA recently designed its Presidential Appointments program to identify and support Latino candidates pursuing presidential appointments. Resumes for this program are being accepted at LatinoAppointments.org.

Established in 1991, The National Hispanic Leadership Agenda (NHLA) brings together Hispanic leaders to establish policy priorities that address, and raise public awareness of the major issues affecting the Latino community and the nation as a whole. For more information, please visitwww.nationalhispanicleadership.org.

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