Richard Cordray served for six years as the first Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He was appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed by a bipartisan vote of the Senate. During his tenure, the Bureau returned over $12 billion to 30 million Americans, handled 1.3 million consumer complaints that resolved many individual problems, and adopted new rules to safeguard the mortgage market that caused the financial crisis of 2008 and the deep recession that followed. He is the author of Watchdog, released in March 2020, about consumer protection and the role and importance of the CFPB.

Before joining the Consumer Bureau, Rich served as Ohio’s Attorney General, where he and his team recovered over $2 billion for Ohio’s retirees, investors, and business owners and took major steps to protect consumers from fraudulent foreclosures and financial predators. He also served as Ohio Treasurer, where he led the State’s banking, investment, debt, and financing activities. He previously taught at Ohio State’s law school and served as a state legislator and as Ohio’s first Solicitor General. Rich has argued seven cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including by special appointment of both the Clinton and Bush Justice Departments.

Rich graduated from Michigan State University’s James Madison College, Oxford University in England, and the University of Chicago Law School. He clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justices Byron White and Anthony Kennedy. He lives in Grove City, Ohio with his wife Peggy, a law professor at Capital University Law School, and twin children Danny and Holly.

Panel No. 1 – Real Problems for Real Consumers

Moderated by Chuck Munson

Rob Farris-Olsen & Kim Wilson ­­– Morrow v. Bank of America and the Further Development of Consumer Law in Montana

Meirav Furth-Matzkin – Consumer Contracts in Action

Laura N. Coordes ­– Unmasking the Consumer Privacy Ombudsmen

Creola Johnson ­– Debt Relief Scams in the 21st Century

Panel No. 2 ­– Consumer Law During COVID-19 and Beyond

Moderated by The Honorable Kathleen L. DeSoto

David Vladeck – The Erosion of Equity and the Attack on FTC Redress Authority

Craig Cowie ­– Is the CFPB Still on the Beat? The CFPB's (Non) Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Nathalie Martin ­– Bad Apples or a Rotten Tree: Ameliorating the Double Pandemic of COVID-19 and Racial Economic Inequality

Panel No. 3 – Reframing Regulation and Enforcement in the Consumer Space

Moderated by Jim Molloy

Jacob Rooksby & Kathryn Handick – COVID-19 and Corporate Social Responsibility

Amy Widman ­– Protecting Consumer Protection: Filling the Federal Enforcement Gap

Diane Thompson ­– Pay Attention! Regulatory Advocacy, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and Marginalized Communities