FCC Names Broadband Team

WASHINGTON -- Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski today announced the appointment of several senior staffers who will work on the development of a National Broadband Plan as part of the Omnibus Broadband Initiative.

“A brilliant team of senior staff has been assembled who possess the deep and wide-ranging expertise necessary to assess the nation’s broadband needs and help bring high speed, affordable broadband to all Americans,” Chairman Genachowski said. “I am grateful that these individuals have already proven their commitment to this daunting task by agreeing to work under the pressing deadline of delivering a plan to Congress by Feb. 17, 2010. Developing the National Broadband Plan will require enormous effort on the part of dozens of current FCC staff who will be enlisted to contribute their talents, ideas, and insights for this initiative. And I am delighted by the decision of so many of others to set aside their successful ventures in the private sector to also join in serving the public interest. Broadband is our generation’s major infrastructure challenge and it is a top priority to craft a National Broadband Plan that will unlock opportunity, foster innovation and investment, and improve the lives of all Americans.”

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, directed the FCC to submit a National Broadband Plan to Congress by February 17, 2010 that addresses broadband deployment, adoption, affordability, and the use of broadband to advance solutions to national priorities, including health care, education, energy efficiency, public safety, job creation, investment, and others. Senior staff participating in the FCC’s Omnibus Broadband Initiative are:

• Erik Garr, General Manager. Mr. Garr is on leave from Diamond Management and Technology Consultants, a consulting firm that he helped grow from a small private firm into a publicly traded global company, where he is a partner. At Diamond, Mr. Garr built and led consulting teams engaged on broadband issues for the U.S. Navy, the City of New York, and the World Economic Forum. He earned a Master’s degree in Public Policy from University of Chicago, and a B.A. with high honors from the University of Michigan.

• Brian David, Adoption and Usage Director. Mr. David has held senior management positions where he helped build several entrepreneurial technology and communications companies, and has also covered media and telecom clients as a strategy consultant and investment banker. He ran business development and sales for Visage Mobile, ran consumer marketing and worked in strategy and business development for data services company NorthPoint Communications, and handled business development for Moxi Digital. Prior to his operating experience, he was a media banker at Goldman Sachs and a consultant to telecommunications clients at Bain & Company. He earned an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A., cum laude, from Duke University.

• Kristen Kane, National Purposes Director. Ms. Kane was Chief Operating Officer of the New York City Department of Education, where she was responsible for the implementation of the Bloomberg administration's reform strategy as well as oversight of daily operations. She also served as a vice president and equity research analyst at JP Morgan and worked at Salomon Smith Barney prior to that. She earned an M.B.A. with a Certificate in Public Management from Stanford Graduate School of Business, and a B.A. from Yale College.

• John Horrigan, Consumer Research Director. Mr. Horrigan was Associate Director, Research, with the Pew Internet & American Life Project, where he analyzed survey data and draft reports for the Pew Internet Project. He was principal author of the report, Measuring Broadband, and author of over 40 other reports and data memoranda. Mr. Horrigan also served as legislative assistant and press secretary to U.S. Congressman Jake Pickle. He earned a Ph.D. in Public Policy from the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Administration at the University of Texas at Austin, where he also earned a Masters in Public Affairs. He earned a B.A. in Economics and Government from the University of Virginia.

• Rob Curtis, Deployment Director. Mr. Curtis was a leader in the high-tech and telecom practice of McKinsey & Co., where he led over 20 engagements directly related to network operations and strategy. He was President of Network Operations and Engineering for a large Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC), and served on the CompTel Board of Directors and Executive Committee. He was also an attorney at Fulbright & Jaworski, L.L.P. in Houston. He earned a J.D. with Honors from Duke University School of Law, and a D. Phil. from Oxford University, where his dissertation dealt with the intersection of game theory and political theory.

• Julie Veach, Acting Chief, Wireline Competition Bureau, FCC. Ms. Veach is serving as the policy team lead for the broadband plan. As Acting Chief of the Wireline Competition Bureau, Ms. Veach leads many of the FCC’s efforts involving broadband, universal service, intercarrier compensation, competition, data gathering and analysis. Prior to serving as Acting Chief, she was Deputy Chief, and served a variety of positions in the Bureau’s Competition Policy Division. Before joining the FCC, she was an associate with Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, and clerked for the Hon. Michael S. Kanne of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. She graduated magna cum laude from the Indiana University School of Law in 1997, and earned a B.A. from Purdue University in 1993.

• John S. Leibovitz, Deputy Chief, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, FCC. Mr. Leibovitz is serving as the broadband team lead for spectrum issues. Mr. Leibovitz recently joined the FCC from the Presidential Transition Team, where he helped to coordinate the Technology, Innovation, and Government Reform working group. Prior to the transition, Mr. Leibovitz worked as an entrepreneur and strategy consultant in the telecommunications industry, with an emphasis on the wireless sector. He started his business career with McKinsey & Company, in New York. He has written about technology and spectrum policy in the Yale Law Journal and the Yale Journal of Law and Technology. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania, an M.Phil. from Cambridge University, and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

• Donald Stockdale, Deputy Chief and Bureau Chief Economist Wireline Competition Bureau, FCC. Mr. Stockdale is serving as policy advisor to the broadband team. As Deputy Chief, he has supervised the FCC’s pricing policy proceedings, including intercarrier compensation reform, the review of all wireline mergers and other policy proceedings raising competition issues. He has also advised the FCC on various broadband policy initiatives. He taught business and public policy at the University of Maryland’s Business School, and was a litigation associate at Simpson Thatcher & Bartlett, where he specialized in U.S. and European antitrust law. He earned a B.A. J.D. and Ph.D. in Economics, all from Yale University, and a M.A. in economics from Kings College, Cambridge.

• Krista Witanowski, Attorney Advisor, Media Bureau, FCC. Ms. Witanowski is serving as Workshop Coordinator. Prior to her position in the Media Bureau, she worked as an Attorney Advisor in the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis. She began her legal career as an associate at Wiley Rein. She received her J.D., magna cum laude, from Syracuse University; her M.A. in TV/Radio/Film from S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications; and her undergraduate degree from the College of the Holy Cross.

• Christopher Lewis is a Legislative Analyst in the Office of Legislative Affairs at the FCC and is handling legislative affairs for the National Broadband Plan team. Before joining the Office of Legislative Affairs, Chris served as a Senior Advisor on the Digital Television Transition policy team. He has worked in politics and community organizing for eight years with experience in the office of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, civic engagement non-profit GenerationEngage, and several political campaigns at the local, state, and national levels. Chris graduated from Harvard University in 2002 with a B.A. in Government.

• Roger Goldblatt, Outreach and Policy Advisor, Consumer & Government Affairs Bureau, FCC. Mr. Goldblatt is Community Outreach Coordinator for the Omnibus Broadband Initiative. Mr. Goldblatt recently directed the national digital transition field outreach effort. Prior to joining the FCC, he was responsible for national outreach for the Presidential Council on Y2K Conversion. He has served in several White House Administrations, running the Health Care Reform Information Center and Office of Special Projects for the Clinton Administration. He has Masters from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and from Johns Hopkins University, and a B.A. from George Washington University.

• Mark Wigfield, Media Spokesman, Wireline Competition Bureau, FCC. Mr. Wigfield will be chief spokesman for the broadband team. In addition to his Wireline Bureau duties, he recently helped lead the FCC’s media relations team for the digital television transition. Prior to joining the FCC, he was a reporter covering technology and telecommunications for Dow Jones Newswires, where he also wrote numerous articles on technology for the Wall Street Journal. He was also a Washington correspondent for the company’s community newspaper division. He earned a B.A. from Beloit College.

Blair Levin will continue coordinating the Omnibus Broadband Initiative, for which he will serve as the Executive Director.

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)