FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson Explores M&A, Antitrust, AI With Darden Alumni

Andrew N. Ferguson, chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, visited this week with University of Virginia Darden School of Business alumni in a wide-ranging discussion of merger-and-acquisition trends, antitrust issues, federal policies and related topics.

Ferguson, who earned undergraduate and law degrees at UVA, joined members of the Darden DC Alumni Chapter at the UVA Darden DC Metro office. The visit was co-sponsored by Darden DC Initiatives and the Darden Institute for Business in Society.

Audience members engage with Chairman Ferguson and event moderator Michael Sirh (MBA ’25).

A native of Harrisonburg, Va., Ferguson served as solicitor general for the Commonwealth of Virginia before joining the FTC as a commissioner in 2024. He has also served as a Republican counsel on the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, and practiced law at several Washington law firms. Earlier, he clerked for Judge Karen Henderson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit and for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Ferguson answered a few questions for the Darden Report in advance of his visit.

M&A activity is on the rise. What’s your overarching approach to evaluating potential deals that come before the FTC?

I think of my role as a “cop on the beat” enforcing our nation’s antitrust laws – it’s my job to step in when companies are violating those laws through anti-competitive deals. But it’s not my job to be central planner, trying to shape markets through the imposition of myriad rules and regulations. Deal flow is important for making businesses more efficient, stimulating economic growth, and ultimately promoting a flourishing society. So, if we think we have sufficient evidence that a merger violates the law and we think we can win, we will not hesitate to bring companies to court. President Trump’s first administration took an aggressive approach to antitrust enforcement, initiating historic cases against Google and Meta, and I intend to do the same whenever the evidence warrants it. But if a merger doesn’t violate the law, we will get out of the way as quickly as possible, letting businesses grow and innovate.

Artificial Intelligence is an urgent issue from business schools to board rooms. How do you balance the desire to enable innovation and protect privacy and protect consumers?

There is a bipartisan consensus that we need public policies and regulations that enable, rather than stifle, America’s longstanding global dominance in technological innovation, especially with regards to the artificial-intelligence race with China. We will not win that race by meeting innovation with regulation; we must meet it with optimism and regulatory restraint. But technological innovation is not an end-in-itself. In a just society, it should serve the flourishing and success of its citizens and their families. To give just one example, I don’t think we should accept technological progress that comes at the expense of the privacy and protection of our nation’s children. That’s why Congress passed, and the president recently signed, the Take It Down Act, which criminalizes sharing non-consensual intimate images, including AI-generated deepfakes, and requires platforms to remove such content within 48 hours of a victim’s request. My agency is responsible for enforcing this law, as well as other laws governing online privacy for children, and I think that we can achieve the noble goal of protecting children without squelching technological innovation.

You practiced law, clerked for a Supreme Court justice, and now oversee the agency responsible for consumer protection and competition. What’s a common through-line to these experiences?

 In every part of my career, I’ve learned to appreciate the tremendous value of the rule of law, the idea that we are a people governed by laws, not men, and equally subject to those laws regardless of our office or state in life. This principle has been a key to America’s success. Our confidence that every citizen will be subject to the same standards, that those standards will promote the common good, and that the government will enforce those standards consistently and impartially has allowed Americans to flourish more than any society in history. We must protect this confidence at all hazards. I have taken my role in sustaining the rule of law in both state- and federal-government positions very seriously.

Any favorite memories of your time at UVA as an undergrad or in Law School?

 Hiking Old Rag, trivia at Mellow Mushroom, hanging out at the Biltmore, impromptu lunches at Peter Chang, and very long nights at Alderman Library (and Clark Hall, less crowded alternative to Alderman).