Christine S. Wilson
Christine S. Wilson is an American attorney and former government official. A Republican, she served as a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) from September 26, 2018, to March 31, 2023, after being appointed by President Donald Trump.
She was born Christine Alyssa Bishop Smith on May 15, 1970, in Orlando, Florida. She earned a BA from the University of Florida and a JD cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center. While in law school, she clerked for the FTC’s Bureau of Competition and later became chief of staff to FTC Chair Tim Muris. She also worked with future Senator Ted Cruz when he led the FTC’s Office of Policy Planning and later supported Cruz’s campaigns as a donor.
In private practice, Wilson was Senior Vice President for Legal, Regulatory & International for Delta Air Lines, and earlier worked at Kirkland & Ellis and O’Melveny & Myers, focusing on competition law. She has long advocated for more women in antitrust and co-founded The Grapevine, a Washington, DC–based networking platform for women in competition law.
After leaving the FTC, she joined Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer as a senior advisor in the antitrust practice in February 2024.
Politically active, she donated to Ted Cruz’s campaigns in 2011 and 2012 and helped on antitrust matters for John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. Her resignation from the FTC was announced in February 2023 and became effective March 31, 2023; she cited opposition to Chair Lina Khan’s leadership and questions about Khan’s recusal in a case involving Meta.
During her FTC tenure, she voted to approve the $74 billion Bristol-Myers Squibb and Celgene merger, a matter she had previously represented Bristol-Myers for at Kirkland & Ellis.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 18:49 (CET).