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Federal Trade Commission Chairman William E. Kovacic today named Mary Gardiner Jones the 2008 recipient of the Miles W. Kirkpatrick Award. Citing Jones’s significant contributions to the agency and its mission to protect consumers and encourage competition, Chairman Kovacic said, “Mary Gardiner Jones is one of the most important pioneers in the history of the Federal Trade Commission. As the first woman to serve as an FTC commissioner, she inspired generations of women to pursue careers with the agency. She played a formative role in the transformation of the Commission in the 1960s and early 1970s and her advocacy on behalf of disadvantaged populations added a vital dimension to the agency’s consumer protection work. Her contributions helped advance the Commission to the front ranks of public institutions, and we are most grateful to her for it.”

The Kirkpatrick Award was established in 2001 to honor the commitment, talent, and contributions of individuals who, throughout their public and private careers, have made lasting and significant contributions to the FTC. It is named for Miles Kirkpatrick, a legendary figure among the antitrust community because of his dynamic leadership of the American Bar Association’s 1969 Commission to study the FTC. The Kirkpatrick Report resulted in a mandate for substantial reform and reorganization of the agency, including the recruitment of highly qualified and motivated new talent.

Previous recipients of the Kirkpatrick Award are Basil J. Mezines, Robert Pitofsky, Jodie Bernstein, Caswell O. Hobbs, III, Calvin J. Collier, and Thomas B. Leary.