Release: #4687-02
For Release: August 7, 2002

SHARON BROWN-HRUSKA SWORN IN AS CFTC COMMISSIONER

Washington, D.C. – Sharon Brown-Hruska was sworn in today as a Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the federal agency that regulates commodity futures and option trading in the United States.

CFTC Chairman James E. Newsome administered the oath of office in a ceremony attended by CFTC Commissioners and senior staff. Dr. Brown-Hruska was nominated by President Bush on April 9, 2002, and confirmed by the Senate on August 2, 2002, to a term expiring April 13, 2004.

Dr. Brown-Hruska comes to the CFTC from George Mason University where she was an Assistant Professor of Finance in the School of Management. Prior to joining the faculty at George Mason University, she taught at Tulane University and Virginia Tech. Courses taught by Professor Brown-Hruska included Risk Management and Financial Innovation, International Finance, Venture Capital and Private Finance, Investments, and Financial Markets.

From 1990 to 1995, Dr. Brown-Hruska was a staff economist in the CFTC’s Division of Economic Analysis, where she conducted policy and technical research in the areas of anti-competitive behavior and market microstructure of futures, options, and derivatives markets. In commenting on her return to the CFTC, Dr. Brown-Hruska said, “I am pleased and honored to be back in the service of this great agency, and I look forward to working with the Chairman, the Commissioners, and the talented and committed staff of the CFTC.”

Dr. Brown-Hruska has authored numerous scholarly papers and publications based on her extensive research in the areas of derivatives and market microstructure. In her writings, she has considered how differences in market structure and regulation affect market quality and the competitive environment in derivatives and their underlying asset markets.

A native of Winchester, Virginia, Dr. Brown-Hruska received her B.A. in economics and international studies in 1983, her M.A. in economics in 1988, and her Ph.D. in economics in 1994 from Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.

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