Thomas B. Pahl has spent nearly three decades working in various capacities on consumer protection matters, including those relating to debt collection. Most recently, Mr. Pahl was Deputy Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”). From 2018 to 2020, he was the CFPB’s Policy Associate Director for the Division of Research, Markets, and Regulations, leading the organization responsible for the development of debt collection rules. From 2017 to 2108, Mr. Pahl was the Acting Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection at the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”). In that role, he was responsible for all of the FTC’s activities relating to debt collection, including its enforcement activities. Over a 28-year career, he has served in other leadership and managerial roles at the CFPB and the FTC.
Mr. Pahl’s experience extends beyond his federal government service at the CFPB and the FTC. Among other things, he was a Counsel for United States Senate Judiciary Committee. Mr. Pahl also was an adjunct professor of law at the Antonin Scalia School of Law at George Mason University, teaching courses focused on consumer protection, trademark, and business torts. He in addition has been a lawyer in private practice. Finally, he spent a year work as a volunteer on law reform for the American Bar Association in Romania in the early 1990’s.
Mr. Pahl graduated cum laude from Northwestern University School of Law. He also graduated summa cum laude from the College of St. Thomas with special honors in economics.