Barbara Anthony Undersecretary of the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation
Barbara Anthony was appointed by Gov. Deval Patrick to serve as Undersecretary of the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation (OCABR) on May 11, 2009. Anthony, a Massachusetts native, has spent her career promoting consumer causes, and is one of the state’s most well-known consumer advocates and is a highly respected public interest lawyer. According to Anthony, she hopes to move the agency forward as a proactive voice for consumers in Massachusetts and to use the power of the office as a bully pulpit on behalf of consumer interests while at the same time ensuring a level playing field for Massachusetts businesses.
Anthony came to the Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation from Health Law Advocates, where she was Executive Director of the Boston-based non-profit law firm dedicated exclusively to health care access, combining legal expertise with grassroots organizing and policy reform to advance the statewide movement for universal health care access.
Previously, from 1999 to 2007, Anthony was Regional Director of the Northeast Regional Office of the Federal Trade Commission, located in New York City, where she directed consumer and competition advocacy and law enforcement efforts. Anthony was particularly active in the areas of privacy and data security, financial services, Internet fraud, and other unfair and deceptive trade practices.
Earlier, she served as Chief of the Public Protection Bureau in the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office, overseeing litigation in areas such as consumer protection, public charities, utilities, insurance and environmental protection. She also served as Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer for BayBanks, Inc., where she created and managed bank compliance systems. Anthony began her public service career in the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
The appointment as Undersecretary is a return to the office for Anthony, who served as Assistant Secretary of OCABR in the late 1980s, working on issues such as interstate banking, financial services industry restructuring, and cable-telephone industry cross-ownership.
Anthony, who lives in Cambridge, is a graduate of Suffolk University Law School, where she currently serves as an Adjunct Professor of Law. She also has degrees in economics and business administration from Northeastern University. She regularly appears as a commentator on consumer protection issues in the New York and New England media markets.