Obama's FCC team?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Dave Burstein <daveb () dslprime com>
Date: November 14, 2008 7:29:54 PM EST
To: dave () farber net, dewayne () warpspeed com
Subject: Obama's FCC team?

I profiled 30 possible FCC candidates, including four of the five  
chosen, at http://www.fastnetnews.com/policy/56-us-and-canada-telecom-policy/560-obama-policy30-profiles

Here's some details on them, all of whom I've met as a reporter and  
respect.  Some are friends. Four of them are out of the 1990's group  
led by Reed Hundt and close in belief to Obama. All except Ness were  
strong and early Obama supporters, I believe.

Today's FCC announcements
Kevin Werbach is ex-FCC now teaching at Wharton and creative. Susan  
Ness was a Democratic FCC commissioner and was the frontrunner for  
Clinton's choice. Susan Crawford is on the ICANN board and a very  
sharp law professor who's looked deeply at FCC and Internet issues.

On the core team,
Julius Genachowski worked at the Hundt FCC, and mostly in the media  
business with Barry Diller afterwards. He's been a friend of Obama  
since law school and an important part of the campaign.

Don Gips was Al Gore's tech guy back then, and now is at backbone  
provider Level 3 in strategy and policy.  Good policy guy, I'm told,  
and I can confirm he's very strong in tech for a policy guy.

(For the record: My main thought was the FCC badly needs more tech and  
finance/business skills, and would generally move to the top of the  
list people strong in more than law, "policy," and D.C.)

A little more detail:

On the core transition group,
Julius Genachowski has been a Obama friend since Harvard Law Review  
and was one of Obama's first supporters. He brought effective  
technology into the campaign. He's been a hard-driving businessman and  
investor since he left the FCC, with close ties to Barry Diller. He  
presumably could have the FCC chair or any job he wanted, including a  
proposed new post of U.S. Chief Technology Officer, where he'd be a  
strong executive. The other rumored CTO, IP engineer Vint Cerf, would  
be far more a senior advisor than an executive. I asked one of the  
best informed insiders how they'll make the decision, and he replied  
“It's up to Julius.”

Don Gips, now a VP at Level 3, was Al Gore's technology advisor and  
has long been close to Obama. A smart and respected guy, good to deal  
with, and one of the first appointees to the transition team. Gips led  
the International Bureau at the FCC and has a background in business  
and management consulting. I don't know if he wants to take a  
government job, but would likely be offered a major position if he does.

On the FCC panel
Susan Ness, a former FCC commissioner, was a major backer and very  
close to Hillary Clinton. If Obama wants to make a gesture to the  
Clinton people, her possibilities would become interesting. (That was  
a good guess) I knew her slightly, including one conversation when the  
MCI Sprint merger was on the agenda that was thoughtful about Internet  
backbone competition.  Dave - you worked with her, and perhaps can  
fill in more here.

Susan Crawford, now teaching at Michigan, also has enormous respect  
from her peers and would bring international perspective from her role  
at ICANN setting world Internet policy. Vint Cerf, possible Obama  
chief technologist, has been a strong supporter. She emerged in  
academic circles only a few years ago after giving up a partnership at  
a D.C. law firm, and quickly landed on the short list for every open  
senior position in the field. Remarkably diverse in her interests,  
including professional quality skills on the viola.

Kevin Werbach teaches at Wharton after several years at the FCC. Very  
dynamic in style, and often has looked a little further than most and  
developed original ideas. He wasn't on my list, but should have been.  
Sharp
---------------------------------------------

They are all standouts, as are most of the people I hear have a shot.  
That's not just my opinion; this is from a top D.C. Republican  
yesterday. "The more I hear, the more comfortable I feel that we'd  
have smart, knowledgable folks. "
db





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