Ms. Tsacoumis brought to the CPSC her notable background and experience. The CPSC has benefited from her impressive legal knowledge and her wide variety of legal experience which includes having been the managing partner of the DC office of one of the country’s largest law firms, General Counsel of a major university, and a law professor. Her work ethic is remarkable as well as is her ability to quickly understand complex issues and provide insight and solutions to complicated problems.
Ms. Tsacoumis was General Counsel at the CPSC prior to our Commission appointments and she is the only General Counsel we have known. Among our other professional accomplishments, we both are lawyers and take the professional responsibilities of being an attorney very seriously. Ms. Tsacoumis has been a very knowledgeable, intelligent and thoughtful colleague. She has offered us sound legal guidance and wise counsel. We have benefited from her ability to explain the most difficult and challenging issues that came before us as Commissioners. She was open to discussing different points of view including dissenting opinions on the merits. We respect and appreciate her as a principled and ethical attorney who worked diligently to uphold her duties as CPSC’s General Counsel.
As CPSC’s top attorney, Ms. Tsacoumis had oversight of recent successful high-profile legal rulings and negotiations.[1] We certainly both recognize that these results occurred under Ms. Tsacoumis’ excellent direct leadership even though we differ on the policy issues pursued. The CPSC is losing a true leader and a very capable attorney.
Stephanie, we wish you every success in your next professional adventure. It was an honor to call you our colleague and even more importantly, it is and will continue to be a pleasure to call you our friend.
[1] For example, in the Gree civil penalty settlement, the CPSC achieved the highest penalty amount in the history of the CPSC.