Corporate Governance

Christine A. Varney previously served as chair of the Antitrust Practice of Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP from 2011 until her retirement in December 2025. Prior to that role, Ms. Varney was assistant attorney general at the Department of Justice, where she headed the DOJ’s Antitrust Division and oversaw all aspects of its operations, including merger review, criminal and civil litigation and investigations, and coordination with competition regulators outside the United States. Before her tenure at the DOJ, Ms. Varney served as a commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission, after serving as assistant to the president and secretary to the Cabinet in the Clinton administration. Ms. Varney has been widely recognized as one of the leading antitrust lawyers in the U.S., in both private practice and government service. Ms. Varney is co-chair of the board of directors of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law and serves on the board of trustees of the American Museum of Natural History. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Ms. Varney earned a B.A. from the State University of New York at Albany, an M.P.A. from Syracuse University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center.