Robert S. Adler was sworn in as a commissioner of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) on Aug. 20, 2009. He was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 5 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate on Aug. 7.

Professor Adler was an award-winning teacher of ethics, negotiation, business law and consumer protection at UNC Kenan-Flagler. His research addresses negotiation, product safety, product liability, regulation, commercial law, medical malpractice and negotiation. He served as asssociate dean of both the MBA Program and the Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (BSBA) Program. 

Professor Adler joined Barack Obama’s transition team in October 2008. After the presidential election, he was one of two people asked to review the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.

He has been elected six times to the board of directors of Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine.

Professor Adler worked as an attorney before he came to UNC Kenan-Flagler, and he is a member of the North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. bars.

He served as counsel to the Subcommittee on Health and the Environment of the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Energy and Commerce. While on the subcommittee, he worked on legislation on product liability, childhood vaccines, the FDA, medical malpractice and the CPSC. He also helped staff hearings on drug-pricing policies.

He was an attorney-adviser to two commissioners on the CPSC and deputy attorney general for the Pennsylvania Justice Department, where he headed the southwest regional office of the Bureau of Consumer Protection.

He received his JD from the University of Michigan and AB from the University of Pennsylvania.