Appendix 1 – The Commissioners
Table Of Contents
Michael V. Dunn, Acting Chairman
Michael V. Dunn was nominated to a second term as a Commissioner of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission by President Bush on June 16, 2006, and confirmed by the Senate on August 3, 2006. Mr. Dunn has served as a Commissioner since December 6, 2004. On January 9, 2006, he was chosen by his colleagues to chair the Commission’s Agriculture Advisory Committee and on March 13, 2006, he was appointed chairman of the Commission’s Forex Task Force. On January 20, 2009, Mr. Dunn was selected by his fellow Commissioners to be the Acting Chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Prior to joining the CFTC, Mr. Dunn served as Director, Office of Policy and Analysis at the Farm Credit Administration (FCA). Prior to this position, in January 2001, he served briefly as a member of the FCA Board.
Prior to joining FCA, Mr. Dunn was the Under Secretary of Agriculture for Marketing and Regulatory Programs at the USDA. He also served as the Acting Under Secretary for Rural Economic Community Development and as Administrator of the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) at USDA.
Mr. Dunn has had a long involvement in agricultural credit dating back to the late 1970s, when he was the Midwest Area Director for the FmHA. He has been a loan officer and vice president of the Farm Credit Banks of Omaha and has served as a member of the professional staff of the Senate Agricultural Committee, specializing in agricultural credit. At the USDA, Mr. Dunn also served as a member of the Commodity Credit Corporation and Rural Telephone Bank Board. He is a past member of the Iowa Development Commission and has served as the Chairman of the State of Iowa’s City Development Board.
A native of Keokuk, Iowa, and a current resident of Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, Mr. Dunn received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of New Mexico.
Walter L. Lukken, Commissioner
Walter Lukken was first appointed Commissioner in 2002 and is now serving his second term due to expire in 2010. President Bush nominated him in September 2007 to serve as Chairman of the CFTC. He served as Acting Chairman of the Commission from June 27, 2007 until January 20, 2009. Commissioner Lukken has testified numerous times before Congress and has represented the agency as part of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets. He also has represented the Commission before international organizations and forums, including the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and the Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR).
Commissioner Lukken served as chairman of the CFTC’s Energy Markets Advisory Committee (EMAC) until March 2009. The EMAC was created by the Commission in February 2008 to address the timely and critical regulatory issues connected to the role of the futures markets for discovering prices and managing energy price risks. He also served as chairman of the CFTC’s Global Markets Advisory Committee (GMAC) from October 2003 through January 2008. The GMAC provides an industry forum in which it can discuss the many complex and novel issues raised by the ever-increasing globalization of futures markets.
Prior to joining the CFTC, Commissioner Lukken served for five years as counsel on the professional staff of the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee under Chairman Richard Lugar (R-IN), specializing in futures and derivatives markets. In this capacity, he was prominently involved in the development, drafting and passage of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (H.R. 5660).
A native of Richmond, Indiana, he received his B.S. degree with honors from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, and his Juris Doctor degree from Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon. Commissioner Lukken is a member of the Illinois Bar.
Jill E. Sommers, Commissioner
Jill E. Sommers was sworn in as a CFTC Commissioner on August 8, 2007 to a term that expires April 13, 2009. Commissioner Sommers had worked in the commodity futures and options industry in a variety of capacities throughout her career. In 2005, she was the Policy Director and Head of Government Affairs for the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, where she worked on a number of Dodd-Frank Act issues.
Prior to that, Ms. Sommers worked for Chicago Mercantile Exchange, including overseeing regulatory and legislative affairs for the exchange. During her tenure with the exchange, she had the opportunity to work closely with congressional staff drafting the CFMA.
Commissioner Sommers started her career in Washington, DC in 1991 as an intern for Senator Robert J. Dole (R-KS), where she worked in various capacities until 1995. She later worked as a legislative aide for two consulting firms specializing in agricultural issues, Clark & Muldoon, P.C. and Taggart and Associates.
A native of Fort Scott, Kansas, Ms. Sommers holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Kansas. She and her husband, Mike, currently reside in the Washington D.C. area and have three children ages 5, 4, and 3.
Bart Chilton, Commissioner
Bart Chilton was sworn in as a CFTC Commissioner on August 8, 2007. He was formerly the Chief of Staff and Vice President for Government Relations at the National Farmers Union—one of the oldest and largest trade associations.
In 2005, Mr. Chilton was a Schedule C political appointee of President Bush at the U.S. Farm Credit Administration where he served as an Executive Assistant to the Board. From 2001 to 2005, Mr. Chilton was Senior Advisor to Senator Tom Daschle, the Democrat leader of the U.S. Senate where he worked on myriad issues including, but not limited to, agriculture and transportation policy.
From 1995 to 2001, Mr. Chilton was a Schedule C political appointee of President Clinton where he rose to Deputy Chief of Staff to the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Dan Glickman. In this role, Chilton became a member of the Senior Executive Services (SES)—government executives selected for their leadership qualifications to serve in the key positions just below the top Presidential appointees. As an SES member, Chilton served as a major link between Secretary Glickman and the rest of the Federal work force at USDA.
From 1985 to 1995, Mr. Chilton worked in the U.S. House of Representatives as Legislative Director for three different Members of Congress on Capitol Hill. He also worked in the U.S. House as the Executive Director of the bipartisan Congressional Rural Caucus.
Mr. Chilton previously served on the Board of Directors of Bion Environmental Technologies, and the Association of Family Farms—where he also served on the Executive Committee and as Treasurer.
Mr. Chilton was born in Delaware and spent his youth in Indiana where he attended Purdue University from 1979 to 1982. He studied political science and communications and was a collegiate leader of several organizations. Mr. Chilton and his wife, Sherry Daggett Chilton, reside on the Western Shore of the Chesapeake Bay.