Ear Ye! Ear Ye!

By Paula Bernier (News - Alert)

The past month has been busy one for the Federal Communications Commission. Two new commissioners were sworn in and announced their staffs. Our new FCC (News - Alert) chairman named his senior advisor on broadband. He also selected senior staffers to work on the development of a National Broadband Plan as part of the Omnibus Broadband Initiative. And the agency introduced a team of senior technologists who will help the FCC develop a National Broadband Plan.

These individuals are positioned to play an important role in shaping the communications industry in the years ahead through their input and collaboration on such key issues as helping narrow the digital divide, universal service, intercarrier compensation, rules around broadband access and VoIP, security, net neutrality/fair use and more.

As Jonathan S. Marashlian, an attorney with Helein & Marashlian, LLC – The CommLawGroup, noted during a recent interview with NGN: "Now's the opportunity. You've got a new commission. You've got new ears."

Here's a quick rundown of some of the new "ears" you might want to bend at the FCC, and a bit on each individual's back story:

Meredith Attwell Baker and Mignon L. Clyburn were sworn in as FCC commissioners in the past month or so, finally bringing the agency's top leadership back to a party of five.

Baker most recently served as acting assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information and acting administrator of the NTIA. Clyburn previously served on the Public Service Commission of South Carolina and was active in NARUC. Clyburn, the first African-American woman to be an FCC commissioner, is the oldest daughter of House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.).

The two join FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and Commissioner Robert M. McDowell, both of whom assumed their posts in late June, and Michael J. Copps (News - Alert), who was sworn in for a second term as an FCC commissioner in January of 2006. You've probably already heard plenty about Genachowski and Copps, but you may not be aware that McDowell is a Republican, has worked for CLEC association COMPTEL (News - Alert) and is serving his second stint on the commission (he was first appointed to the FCC by George W. Bush).

Genachowski in August named Dr. Carlos Kirjner as his senior advisor on broadband. In that capacity Kirjner, an engineer who has worked for McKinsey and Co., semiconductor firm Telegent Systems Inc. and Vodafone (News - Alert) Group PLC, will play a leading role in the creation of the National Broadband Plan.

Also contributing to the National Broadband Plan effort are Chief Technologist Stagg Newman, who has worked for Bellcore, BellLabs, Frontline Wireless, McKinsey and Co. and Pacific Telesis; Chief Engineer Byron J. Neal, who did time at Intermedia Communications, Syniverse Technologies (News - Alert), Transglobal Communications, Trinsic Communications and 2nd Century Communications; Julius Knapp, chief of the FCC's office of engineering and technology, a 35-year FCC veteran; Rashmi Doshi, chief of the laboratory division of the FCC's office of engineering and technology, who's been an employee of Verizon and its precursors as well as Nortel (News - Alert) and the British Telecom Research Center; Jeff Goldthorp, chief of the FCC's communications systems analysis division within the public safety and homeland security bureau, who is a former Bellcore/Telcordia (News - Alert) guy; Walter Johnston, chief of the electromagnetic compatibility division for the FCC's office of engineering and technology, who's held senior positions in Telcordia and was VP at Bell Atlantic/NYNEX (Verizon (News - Alert)); and Ronald T. Repasi, deputy chief of the FCC's office of engineering and technology, who has also served as the satellite engineering branch chief in the FCC's international bureau.

Blair Levin will continue coordinating the Omnibus Broadband Initiative, for which he serves as executive director. New senior FCC staffers who will work on the development of a National Broadband Plan as part of the Omnibus Broadband Initiative include: General Manager Erik Garr, who is on leave from consulting firm Diamond Management and Technology Consultants; Brian David, adoption and usage director, who's worked for Visage Mobile, NorthPoint Communications, Moxi Digital and as a media banker at Goldman Sachs; Kristen Kane, national purposes director, who previously was COO of the New York City Department of Education, and a JP Morgan (News - Alert) and Salomon Smith Barney analyst; John Horrigan, consumer research director, formerly the associate director of research with the Pew Internet and American Life Project; Rob Curtis, deployment director, another former McKinsey and Co. (News - Alert) leader and CLEC industry survivor; Julie Veach, acting chief of the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau, an FCC veteran; John S. Leibovitz, deputy chief of the FCC's Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, who was part of Obama's Presidential Transition Team and is yet another former McKinsey and Co. guy; Donald Stockdale, deputy chief and bureau chief economist for the FCC's wireline competition bureau, a former lawyer and former professor; Krista Witanowski, attorney advisor of the FCC's media bureau, who has a background in communications and legal matters; Christopher Lewis, a legislative analyst in the FCC's office of legislative affairs, who previously served as a senior advisor on the digital television transition policy team and on the staff of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy; Roger Goldblatt, outreach and policy advisor for the FCC's consumer and government affairs bureau, who has served in several White House administrations, running the health care reform information center and Office of Special Projects for the Clinton Administration; and Mark Wigfield, media spokesman for the FCC's Wireline Competition Bureau.

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