Bush designates Aranoff, chairman; Pearson, vice chairman of ITC

Bush designates Aranoff, chairman; Pearson, vice chairman of ITC President Bush has designated Shara L. Aranoff to chairman, and Daniel R. Pearson to vice chairman of the U.S. International Trade Commission, effective June 17, 2008 to June 16, 2010.
   The ITC is an independent, non-partisan, quasi-judicial federal agency that provides trade expertise to both the legislative and executive branches of the government, determines the impact of imports on U.S. industries, and directs actions against unfair trade practices.
   Commissioners are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate for nine-year terms. The chairman and vice chairman roles are designated by the president for two-year terms.
   Aranoff, a Democrat from Maryland, was nominated to the commission by President Bush on April 27, 2005, for the term ending Dec. 16, 2012. The president designated her ITC vice chairman for the term June 17, 2006 to June 16, 2008.
   Prior to her appointment, she was senior international trade counsel on the Democratic staff of the Senate Finance Committee, starting in January 2001. She had also served as attorney advisor to the ITC’s Office of the General Counsel from 1993. Earlier in her career, Arnoff was an associate with Washington law firm Steptoe & Johnson, specializing in international trade and public international law.
   Pearson, a Republican from Minnesota, was nominated to the ITC by President Bush and confirmed by the Senate on Nov. 21, 2004, for a term ending June 16, 2011. He served as ITC chairman from June 17, 2006 to June 16, 2008.
   Prior to his appointment, Pearson was assistant vice president of public affairs at Cargill in Minneapolis. From 1981 to 1987, he was the agricultural legislative assistant to Sen. Rudy Boschwitz in Washington, and from 1979 to 1980, he helped his father and brother farm an 800-acre operation in Ogilvie, Minn.