Vishal Amin currently serves as Majority Senior Counsel on the House Judiciary Committee, handling issues dealing with intellectual property, international trade, competition and technology policy. His responsibilities on the Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on the courts, intellectual property, and the internet, include drafting legislation, developing strategy for Congressional legislative and oversight hearings and markups, and analyzing legislation and policy initiatives. Amin served as the lead House counsel drafting H.R. 1249, the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act (Pub. L. No. 112-29 (2011)). Earlier in his career, Amin served in the Bush Administration, at both The White House and the U.S. Department of Commerce. He received his bachelor’s degree in neuroscience from The Johns Hopkins University, his law degree from Washington University in St. Louis and is a member of the New York State Bar.
Rebecca Arbogast is Vice President for Global Public Policy for Comcast Corporation. She is responsible for the development and coordination of the company’s public policy efforts across the corporation. Prior to joining Comcast, Arbogast served as Managing Director at Stifel Financial where she provided advice to institutional investors on legal issues affecting communications, media, and technology industries. She joined Stifel from the Federal Communications Commission where she was Chief of the International Bureau Telecommunications Division, leading an office of attorneys, economists, and engineers shaping the agency’s policies for international communications services. Prior to the FCC, Arbogast served in the Office of Legal Counsel of the U.S. Department of Justice, and she began her legal career as a corporate attorney with Wilmer Cutler practicing international and communications law. She has taught Constitutional Law at Johns Hopkins School of Public Policy and Global Communications at American University. Arbogast clerked for Judge Fletcher on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and was a Fulbright Fellow in European Community Law. Arbogast holds a law degree from Yale Law School and a Masters Degree from the University of Iowa.
Ed Black has been President & CEO of the Computer & Communications Industry Association (CCIA) since 1995. He previously served for nearly a decade as CCIA’s Vice-President and General Counsel. Black is past Chairman of the State Department’s Advisory Committee on International Communications & Information Policy and past President of the Washington International Trade Association & Foundation and Chairman of the Pro-Trade Group. He serves on the board of directors of the Interoperability Clearing House (ICH), and is a member of various bar and technology policy organizations, including past Chairman of the American Intellectual Property Law Association’s Subcommittee on Export Controls, and the Advisory Board for BNA’s Electronic Information Policy and Law Report. He is active politically at the local, state and national levels. In addition to serving on the Hill as Chief of Staff and Legislative Director for two Members of Congress, Black served as a senior congressional liaison for several Secretaries of State and Commerce. Black subsequently practiced law in the private sector, where he represented high-tech companies and associations. Black received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Muhlenberg College and his Juris Doctor degree from the American University Washington College of Law, where he won honors in the area of international law.
Carlos López Blanco is the Global Head, Public and Corporate Affairs for Telefónica, S.A. Previously, he was Director of the International Office of Telefónica, S.A. Prior to joining Telefónica, López Blanco was the Chairman of Enter, Centre for the Analysis of the Information Society and Telecommunications of Instituto de Empresa Business School, and a member of the Board of Directors of Ericsson España and Ydilo Advanced Voice Solutions, as well as a member of the Advisory Board of INDRA. From 2002 to 2004 he held the post of Secretary of State for Telecommunications and Information Society in the Spanish Government. He also served as General Counsel and General Secretary of Airtel, which later became Vodafone España, General Counsel of IBM España, and Secretary to the Board of Directors and General Counsel of Construcciones Aeronáuticas, S.A. (CASA). Before joining the public sector, López Blanco worked as State Lawyer for the Spanish Administration in the Ministries of Education, Justice, and Economy. López Blanco trained as a lawyer at Valladolid University, obtained an A.D. at the IESE Business School, and is a State Lawyer.
Danny Boice is the Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of Speek – a 500 Startups funded startup that lets users do conference calls with a simple link (speek.com/YourName) rather than using phone numbers and PINs. A serial entrepreneur and executive, Danny started his career as a software engineer working for startups like Network Solutions and MusicMaker.com in the 90’s. Danny founded his first company, Jaxara in the early 2000s (exited via acquisition). Danny attended Harvard and is a guest contributor to The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Fast Company and Pando Daily as an expert on startups, product, technology and user experience. He was recently named a Tech Titan by Washingtonian Magazine.
Michele Boldrin is the J.G. Hoyt Distinguished University Professor and Chair, Department of Economics at Washington University. He is currently a Fellow of the Econometric Society, an Associate Editor of Econometrica, an Editor of the Review of Economic Dynamics, and the Book Review Editor of Macroeconomic Dynamics. He is also a Research Fellow of Centre for Economic Policy Research and FEDEA, and an Economic Advisor to the Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis and to the Bank of Japan. He was previously Professor of Economics and Director of Graduate Studies, Department of Economics at the University of Minnesota, the Marc Rich Professor of Economics at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, and an Associate Professor at Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University. Previously he was with the economics department of the University of Chicago and UCLA. In addition, he was an External Faculty member at the Santa Fe Institute, where he served as Director of the Economics Program. He has also held visiting positions at Stanford University, University of Pennsylvania, UCLA, Academia Sinica, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Universita’ Bocconi, Wuhan University, Beijing University, Kyoto University, and University of Tokyo, among others. He graduated magna cum laude in Economics from the Universita’ Ca’ Foscari and received his Master of Science and his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Rochester.
Rick Boucher is a Partner at Sidley Austin LLP and serves as the head of the firm’s Government Strategies group. Prior to joining Sidley, Mr. Boucher served for 28 years in the U.S. House of Representatives as Virginia’s 9th District Congressman. During his Congressional tenure he served on the House Energy and Commerce and Judiciary Committees and chaired the subcommittees on Energy and Air Quality; and Communications, Technology and the Internet. He was a leading participant in every major telecommunications policy debate over the past 25 years. A subcommittee that he chaired oversaw the commercialization of the Internet and its transition from a government-owned R&D project, and he authored the 1992 law that permitted the first commercial use of the Internet. He was one of two co-founders of the Congressional Internet Caucus, and served as co-chairman of the 170 member group for 15 years. Mr. Boucher was instrumental in drafting the initial legislation providing privacy rights for Internet users and has been a longstanding proponent of fair use opportunities for digital media purchasers. Mr. Boucher also served in the Virginia Senate for seven years and before entering public service was in the private practice of law for 12 years in New York and Virginia. He received a B.A. from Roanoke College and his law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.
Julie Brill was sworn in as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission April 6, 2010, to a term that expires on September 25, 2016. Since joining the Commission, Brill has worked actively on issues most affecting today’s consumers, including protecting consumers’ privacy, encouraging appropriate advertising substantiation, guarding consumers from financial fraud, and maintaining competition in industries involving high tech and health care. Before she became a Commissioner, Brill was the Senior Deputy Attorney General and Chief of Consumer Protection and Antitrust for the North Carolina Department of Justice. Commissioner Brill has also been a Lecturer-in-Law at Columbia University’s School of Law. Prior to her move to the North Carolina Department of Justice, Commissioner Brill was an Assistant Attorney General for Consumer Protection and Antitrust for the State of Vermont for over 20 years. Commissioner Brill has also served as a Vice-Chair of the Consumer Protection Committee of the Antitrust Section of the American Bar Association. Commissioner Brill graduated, magna cum laude, from Princeton University, and from New York University School of Law, where she had a Root-Tilden Scholarship for her commitment to public service.
Meredith Broadbent was sworn in as a Commissioner of the United States International Trade Commission on September 10, 2012, for a term expiring on June 16, 2017. Prior to joining the Commission, Commissioner Broadbent held the William M. Scholl Chair in International Business at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Previously, she served as Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Industry, Market Access, and Telecommunications. She led the U.S. negotiating team for the Doha Round negotiations to reduce tariff and nontariff barriers on industrial goods and successfully concluded an innovative plurilateral trade agreement with the European Union, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. She also served as Trade Advisor at the Global Business Dialogue, a multinational business association. Earlier in her career, Commissioner Broadbent served as a senior professional staff member on the Republican staff of the Committee on Ways and Means of the U.S. House of Representatives. She drafted and managed major portions of the Trade and Development Act of 2000 and the Trade Act of 2002. Prior to that, she served as professional staff for the House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee. Commissioner Broadbent holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Middlebury College and a Master of Business Administration degree from the George Washington University School of Business and Public Management.
Jeff Carlisle is Executive Vice President for Regulatory Affairs and Public Policy for LightSquared, where he is responsible for all domestic and international regulatory and policy matters including those at the FCC, Congress, the Executive Branch, the ITU, and in foreign markets. Before joining LightSquared, Carlisle served as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs for SkyTerra Communications. Prior to SkyTerra, he served as Vice President, International Public Policy and Government Relations of Lenovo, the global computer manufacturer. Previously, Carlisle served as Deputy Chief and Chief of the FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau, where he managed the development of the Commission’s policies on broadband and competitive entry into the local exchange market, and he was the architect of the Commission’s policies on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and bankruptcy of common carriers. Carlisle practiced law at O’Melveny & Myers and independently, starting as a transactional attorney and then specializing in broadcast and telecommunications law. He received a B.A. in History, magna cum laude and with honors, from UCLA; a J.D. from Boalt Hall at the University of California, Berkeley; and an M.A. in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School.
Robert W. Crandall is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Technology Policy Institute. His current research focuses on antitrust and regulatory issues in the telecommunications sector. He is the author or coauthor of numerous articles and books on communications policy, including Competition and Chaos: U.S. Telecommunications since 1996; Broadband: Should We Regulate High-Speed Internet Access? (with James H. Alleman); Who Pays for Universal Service? When Telephone Subsidies Become Transparent (with Leonard Waverman); and Talk is Cheap: The Promise of Regulatory Reform in North American Telecommunications (with Leonard Waverman). Crandall is also a Nonresident Senior Fellow in the Economic Studies program at the Brookings Institution. He was Acting Director, Deputy Director and Assistant Director of the Council on Wage and Price Stability. Crandall has also served as a consultant to the Antitrust Division, the Federal Trade Commission and the Treasury Department. He has taught economics at Northwestern University, MIT, the University of Maryland, George Washington University, and the Stanford in Washington program. Crandall holds an M.S. and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University.
Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. became the 12th president of Purdue in January 2013, at the conclusion of his term as governor of Indiana. Daniels was elected Indiana’s 49th governor in 2004 and re-elected in 2008, receiving more votes than any candidate for public office in the state’s history. He spearheaded reforms to strengthen the Indiana economy, and improve the ethical standards, fiscal condition and performance of state government. He has also served in top leadership roles at the Hudson Institute and Eli Lilly, as well as under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. Since arriving at Purdue, Daniels has made student affordability and student success top priorities, and he has pledged to keep a Purdue education within reach for students and families. Among his other top priorities are research impact, tech transfer, and commercialization of Purdue innovation. Daniels earned a bachelor’s degree from Princeton in 1971 and his law degree from Georgetown in 1979. He is the author of three books. Daniels and his wife Cheri have four daughters.
Peter N. Detkin is a Founder and Vice-Chairman at Intellectual Ventures where he focuses on a variety of projects relating to intellectual property and invention. Prior to joining Intellectual Ventures, Detkin was a Vice President and Assistant General Counsel at Intel Corporation, where he was responsible for managing the Intel patent and licensing departments, and the litigation and competition policy departments. Before he joined Intel, Detkin was an intellectual property partner at the law firm of Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati. While at Wilson Sonsini, he had lead or second chair responsibility for a number of high profile litigations, including the seminal computer copyright case Lotus v. Borland. In addition to his work, Detkin is the past president of the Law Foundation of Silicon Valley and serves as a member of the Board of Overseers of the University of Pennsylvania School of Engineering and Applied Science. He is also on the Parents Advisory Council for Sarah Lawrence College. He is a member of the State Bars of California and New York, and is registered to practice before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Detkin received his B.S.E.E. with honors from the University of Pennsylvania’s Moore School of Electrical Engineering and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
R. Stanton Dodge serves as Executive Vice President and General Counsel of DISH. Dodge is responsible for all legal and government affairs for DISH and its subsidiaries. Since joining DISH in November 1996, he has held positions of increasing responsibility in the legal department. Prior to joining DISH, Dodge was a law clerk to the Hon. Jose D. L. Marquez of the Colorado Court of Appeals. Dodge is actively involved in many political, charitable and community causes. He serves as a member of the board of directors of National Jewish Health and the Denver Scholarship Foundation. He received his J.D., magna cum laude, from Suffolk University Law School and his Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Vermont.
John Duffy is the Samuel H. McCoy II Professor of Law and the Armistead M. Dobie Professor of Law at the University of Virginia School of Law. Prior, he served on the faculty at George Washington University Law School, most recently as Oswald Symister Colclough Research Professor of Law. Duffy teaches torts, administrative law, patent law and international intellectual property law. Since entering academia, Duffy has been on the faculty of the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and the William and Mary School of Law, and has also served as a visiting professor at the University of Chicago. In the field of intellectual property, Duffy has been identified as one of the 25 most-influential people in the nation by The American Lawyer and one of the 50 most influential people in the world by the U.K. publication Managing Intellectual Property.Duffy served as an Attorney Adviser in the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel and practiced law with the Washington, D.C., firm Covington & Burling. He clerked for Judge Stephen Williams on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Duffy received his A.B from Harvard University and his Law Degree from the University of Chicago Law School.
Lisa Falzone is the CEO and co-founder of Revel Systems, the award-winning leader in iPad point-of-sale (POS) systems for restaurant, retail and grocery. Since starting the company from the ground up in 2010, Falzone has been an entrepreneur in the truest sense of the word. She leads the day-to-day business operations and spearheads new business growth, and has also been instrumental in securing more than $13M in venture capital funding to date and assisting in international expansion of the San Francisco-based startup. Revel Systems is currently in more than 1,200 enterprise locations including Goodwill, Belkin, Griffin, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and more. Falzone has been recognized as Forbes ’30 Under 30’ as well as San Francisco Business Times ’40 Under 40.’
Harold Feld is Senior Vice President of Public Knowledge. Prior to joining Public Knowledge, Feld worked as Senior Vice President of Media Access Project, advocating for the public interest in media, telecommunications and technology policy for almost 10 years. Prior to joining MAP, Feld was an associate at Covington & Burling, worked on Freedom of Information Act, Privacy Act, and accountability issues at the Department of Energy, and clerked for the D.C. Court of Appeals. He also writes Tales of the Sausage Factory, a progressive blog on media and telecom policy. In 2007, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin praised him and his blog for “[doing] a lot of great work helping people understand how FCC decisions affect people and communities on the ground.” Feld received his B.A. from Princeton University, and his J.D. from Boston University Law School.
Luigi Gambardella is Chairman of the Executive Board of ETNO, the European Telecommunications Network Operators’ Association. Gambardella is also currently Vice President, Relations with International Institutions and Organizations at Telecom Italia Group, which he joined in 1999 and was in charge of relations with the National Regulatory Authority. He is also the BIAC Vice Chair to the OECD ICCP Committee, President of EUBrasil – the Association for the development of the relationship between Europe and Brazil, and a member of the Advisory and Support Group of BUSINESSEUROPE. In addition, Gambardella is a member of the board of the European American Business Council, a member of the board of the European Internet Foundation, a member of the Competitiveness Working Group of the European Round Table of Industrialists, President of Puntoit– the Italian Association for the development of the digital economy and a member of Comitato Europa of CONFINDUSTRIA. From 1996-99 he ran the regulatory and Institutional affairs for Olivetti. Gambardella graduated in economics from Bocconi University in Milan, Italy.
Joshua Gans is a Professor of Strategic Management and holder of the Jeffrey S. Skoll Chair of Technical Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, with a cross appointment in the Department of Economics. In 2012, Gans was appointed as a Research Associate of the NBER in the Productivity, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Program. He has also served as a visiting researcher at Microsoft Research, New England. Prior, he was the foundation Professor of Management in Information Economics at the Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne and taught at the School of Economics, University of New South Wales. Gans holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University and an honors degree in economics from the University of Queensland.
Raymond L. Gifford is a Partner at Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP, where he counsels communications, electric and gas utilities and information technology companies on regulation, administrative law, and competition policy. He is an expert in public utilities law as it relates to telecommunications and energy matters. Before returning to private law practice, Gifford served as President of The Progress & Freedom Foundation. Before that, he was Chairman of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission serving as the chief regulator in the state of Colorado of the telecommunications, electricity, natural gas and transportation industries. Gifford began his regulatory career as First Assistant Attorney General for Regulatory Law in the Colorado Attorney General’s office. He clerked for the Honorable Richard P. Matsch of the United States District Court for the District of Colorado. Gifford received his B.A. from St. John’s College and his J.D. from the University of Chicago.
Cameron Gilreath is Vice President for Public Policy at Time Warner, where she is responsible for the development and management of Time Warner’s public policy agenda on intellectual property, trade and international issues. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Copyright Alliance and the Chamber of Commerce’s Global Intellectual Property Center (GIPC), where she also Co-Chairs the International IP Task Force. Prior to Time Warner, Gilreath served as Senior Legislative Counsel to Congressman Lamar Smith, then-Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, the Internet, and Intellectual Property. She also represented the Congressman in his role as Vice-Chair of the Speaker’s High-Tech Task Force. Previously, Gilreath served as an advisor to Congresswoman Judy Biggert on Financial Services Committee issues. Gilreath earned a B.A. magna cum laude from the University of South Carolina and a J.D. from Emory University School of Law, where she was an editor of the Bankruptcy Developments Journal and received the Keith J. Shapiro Award for Best Business Bankruptcy Writing. While in law school, she studied international and comparative law at the Sorbonne in Paris, and worked for Georgia Governor Roy Barnes and Congresswoman Tillie Fowler.
Ambassador David A. Gross is a Partner in Wiley Rein’s Communications Practice and former U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy at the U.S. Department of State. He has addressed the United Nations General Assembly and led more U.S. delegations to major international telecommunication conferences than anyone in modern history. During his tenure at the State Department, Ambassador Gross had overall responsibility for the formulation and advocacy of international communications policy for the United States. Prior to this position, he served as Washington counsel to AirTouch Communications (now Vodafone) and was in private law practice. Ambassador Gross received his J.D. from Columbia Law School and his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Larry Irving is the President and CEO of the Irving Group. Irving previously served as Vice President for Global Government Affairs for the Hewlett-Packard Company. Prior to founding the Irving Group in 1999, Irving served for almost seven years as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and Administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). He was one of the principal architects and advocates of the Clinton Administration’s telecommunications and Internet policies, and was a point person in the Administration’s successful efforts to reform the United States telecommunications laws. He represented the United States Government at the G-7’s first Ministerial meeting on the Global Information Society, and at the Information Society and Development Conference. Irving was also a key member of the United States team that negotiated the World Trade Organization (WTO) agreement on basic telecommunication services. He is widely credited with coining the term the digital divide and was named one of the fifty most influential persons in the ‘Year of the Internet’ by Newsweek Magazine. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Northwestern University and is a graduate of Stanford University School of Law.
Lisa Kimmel is an Attorney Advisor on antitrust law and competition policy in the office of Chairwoman Edith Ramirez at the Federal Trade Commission. Kimmel has served as now Chairwoman Ramirez’s lead advisor on antitrust and competition policy issues in the high-technology sector since joining the Commission in May 2010. Before that time, Kimmel was in private practice in Washington DC, where she represented clients in a broad range of industries on antitrust matters, including merger investigations and foreign and domestic conduct investigations. Kimmel has both a J.D. and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of California at Berkeley.
Evan Kwerel is Senior Economic Advisor in the Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis, and the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission. He was the primary architect of the FCC’s innovative simultaneous multiple round auction methodology. He was also a major intellectual force in the development of price caps and reforming the regulation of international telecom facilities and rates. Prior to joining the FCC, Kwerel was a senior economist with the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. He also served as an Assistant Professor of Economics at Yale University and a Brookings Economic Policy Fellow. He has received the Federal Communications Commission’s Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Service and the Excellence in Government Service Award from the Federal Communications Bar Association. Kwerel received his B.A. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania and his Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Kevin J. Leddy is Executive Vice President, Corporate Strategy, for Time Warner Cable. He is responsible enterprise-wide business strategy, including the technology policy and strategy underlying its numerous residential and commercial video, data and voice services. He served as Executive Vice President, Technology Policy and Product Management before being named to his current role. Leddy joined the company in 1980 and held various positions around the country before becoming the company’s chief marketing officer in 1990. In 1999, Leddy transitioned into product management and strategic planning. Leddy began his career with the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) in 1977. Throughout his more than 30 years at Time Warner Cable, he has remained an active participant in key cable organizations, including NCTA, CableLabs and Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing (CTAM), and serves on various industry committees. Leddy is a former chairman of CTAM’s board of directors. Leddy received a B.A. in Government from Colby College and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School.
John Leibovitz is Deputy Chief, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission. Leibovitz plays an instrumental role in spectrum policy and providing strategic direction for the Bureau, and he was the team lead for spectrum issues in the creation of the National Broadband Plan. Prior to the FCC, Leibovitz worked on the Presidential Transition Team, where he helped to launch the Technology, Innovation, and Government Reform working group. Before that, he worked as an entrepreneur and strategy consultant in telecom with an emphasis on the wireless sector. He started his business career with McKinsey & Company in New York. Leibovitz has written about technology and communications 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.
Thomas Lenard is President and Senior Fellow at the Technology Policy Institute. Lenard is the author or coauthor of numerous books and articles on telecommunications, electricity, antitrust, privacy, e-commerce and other regulatory issues. His publications include Net Neutrality or Net Neutering: Should Broadband Internet Services Be Regulated?; The Digital Economy Fact Book; Privacy and the Commercial Use of Personal Information; Competition, Innovation and the Microsoft Monopoly: Antitrust in the Digital Marketplace; and Deregulating Electricity: The Federal Role. Before joining the Technology Policy Institute, Lenard was acting president, senior vice president for research and senior fellow at The Progress & Freedom Foundation. He has served in senior economics positions at the Office of Management and Budget, the Federal Trade Commission and the Council on Wage and Price Stability, and was a member of the economics faculty at the University of California, Davis. He is a past president and chairman of the board of the National Economists Club. Lenard is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and holds a PhD in economics from Brown University.
Jill Lesser serves as the Executive Director of the Center for Copyright Information, a non-profit organization established to implement the Copyright Alert System. Lesser is also a strategic policy consultant and a Managing Director at The Glover Park Group. Prior, Lesser served as Senior Vice President, Domestic Public Policy for AOL Time Warner, Inc. She was also a Senior Policy Advisor for Time Warner, Inc. Lesser joined America Online in 1996 and managing domestic policy until its merger with Time Warner. Lesser also sat on the boards of several industry-related organizations, including TRUSTe and the Internet Education Foundation. Prior to joining AOL, Lesser was Deputy Director of Public Policy and Director of the Civic Media Project at People for the American Way. Lesser was also a litigation associate in New York with the Law firm Debevoise & Plimpton and graduated with honors from the University of Michigan where she majored in political science. She received her J.D. cum laude from Boston University School of Law.
Allen Lo is Deputy General Counsel for Patents and Patent Litigation at Google Inc. He leads Google’s patent team, which is responsible for all aspects of the company’s patent-related activity. The core areas of responsibility include patent strategy development, portfolio development, licensing, analytics, acquisitions, litigation, and policy. Allen joined Google following a 12-year career at Juniper Networks, Inc., where he served as Deputy General Counsel and Vice President of Intellectual Property. Allen started his career as an examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, examining software and business method applications. He spent 7 years at the law firm of Finnegan, Henderson, and clerked for Chief Magistrate Judge Infante at the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Allen received his BS in Electrical Engineering from The Ohio State University and his JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.
Erika Mann is Managing Director for Public Policy at Facebook and heads the company’s policy office in Brussels. She is also a member of ICANN’s Board of Directors and chairs its audit committee. Prior to assuming her current position at Facebook, Mann was the Executive Vice President for the Computer & Communications Industry Association in Brussels and established her own consultancy, ErikaMann SPRL. Mann was previously a member of the European Parliament and sat on the Committee of Industry, Research and Energy, where she focused on R&D issues, the digital economy, telecommunications and Internet policy. She is also one of the founding members of the European Internet Foundation and previously served as Chair. Mann also served as a coordinator in the International Trade Committee; a Member of the Delegation for Relations with the United States; a Speaker of the Committee for International Trade; the European Chair of the Transatlantic Policy Network; and a Member of the Transatlantic Task Force on Trade. She was also the Chairperson of the Joint Board coordinating WTO matters between the Committee on International Trade and the United Nations Inter-Parliamentary Union. Mann was actively involved in the negotiations for free trade agreements between the European Union and various Asian, Latin American and African states. In addition to the above, Mann is an academician of the International Informatisation, and is a Vice President of the advisory board of the European Policy Centre. Mann has a degree in social sciences from the University of Hannover.
Joan Marsh is a Vice President of Federal Regulatory Affairs for AT&T in Washington, D.C. where she has represented AT&T since 1999. In her current role, Marsh is responsible for managing AT&T’s wireless and public safety/national security interests before federal regulatory authorities, including the Federal Communications Commission. From 1997 to 1999, Marsh served as Senior Regional Attorney for AT&T in its Chicago offices representing AT&T before various state public utilities commissions in the Midwest. Prior to joining AT&T, Marsh spent five years as a trial litigator with the Chicago firm of Kirkland & Ellis. Prior to that position, Ms. Marsh was a law clerk for the Honorable Edward Rafeedie of the US District Court for Central District of California, Los Angeles. She received a J.D. with Honors from the University of Southern California Law Center in Los Angeles in 1990 and a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1986.
Laura Martin is Senior Analyst for Entertainment, Cable and Media at Needham & Company LLC, where she publishes research on the largest Internet, entertainment and cable companies. Prior to joining Needham, she founded Media Metrics, LLC, publishing equity research on the largest entertainment, cable and Internet stocks in the U.S., where she was nationally ranked as “Best of the Independent Research Boutiques” by Institutional Investor for many years. She also joined Capital Knowledge, LLC to provide expert witness testimony and valuation consulting. Before founding Media Metrics, LLC, Martin was Executive Vice President of Financial Strategy and Investor Relations for Vivendi Universal in Paris. Martin was also a senior media analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston, publishing research on the largest U.S. entertainment and cable companies and a media analyst at Capital Research & Management. She began her career at Drexel Burnham Lambert in media investment banking. Martin received her BA from Stanford and her MBA from Harvard Business School. She also holds a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation.
Bernie McKay is Intuit’s Chief Public Policy Officer and Vice President for Corporate Affairs. In this role, Mr. McKay is Intuit’s senior officer responsible for government affairs, industry relations, global public policy, and national corporate philanthropy. Bernie joined Intuit in January 1998. Prior to that time, he served in a variety of capacities in both the private and public sectors. A former Vice President for AT&T, Mr. McKay served in government relations positions there in the corporate Public Affairs department, and later led the Emerging Global Markets business development group in AT&T Federal Systems. He also previously served as deputy director of Hewlett-Packard’s Washington Government Affairs office. Prior to joining the private sector, Bernie served in positions in the US Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency, and also previously served in the Rhode Island State Department of Health. Before joining government, Mr. McKay served in a number of staff and management positions in Presidential, Senatorial and Gubernatorial election campaigns Bernie holds a BA in Political Science from Providence College, and a Masters in Business and Public Administration from Southeastern University. He studied business, government and international affairs at the University College of North Wales (UK), the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France, and at the Indiana University School of Business.
Randal S. Milch is Executive Vice president, Public Policy, and General Counsel of Verizon. He leads the company’s legal, regulatory, state government affairs and security groups, and also has overall responsibility for Verizon’s global public policy activities, communications and media relations. Previously, Milch served as the Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Verizon Business. Before that, he served as the Senior Vice President and General Counsel of Verizon’s domestic telecom business. He was appointed to the latter position upon the merger of Bell Atlantic and GTE. Before the merger, Milch was Associate General Counsel at Bell Atlantic. Previously, Milch served as Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary of Bell Atlantic-Maryland Inc. He began his telecommunications career as counsel to the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of Maryland in 1993. Prior to his role with Bell Atlantic, Milch was a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of Donovan Leisure Newton & Irvine. Milch began his legal career as a clerk to Clement F. Haynsworth Jr., Chief Judge Emeritus of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Milch holds a J.D. from the New York University School of Law and a B.A. from Yale University.
Stephanie Moore is the Chief Counsel for the Democrats on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet. Moore first joined the Judiciary Committee in 2001 and has served as Chief Counsel to Representative Melvin Watt (N.C. 12) on both the Intellectual Property Subcommittee and the Commercial and Administrative Law Subcommittee. She also served as General Counsel for Education to Rep. George Miller on the Education and Labor Committee. Prior to her tenure on the Hill, Ms. Moore practiced law, taught at area law schools, as well as Rutgers Law School and the University of Pennsylvania undergraduate, and served in the Clinton Administration. Moore started her legal career as a law clerk to the late Judge A. Leon Higginbotham, Jr. on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Moore is an honors graduate of Oberlin College and Harvard Law School where she was on the Law Review.
Katherine Oyama is Copyright Policy Counsel for Google, where she focuses on copyright and trademark law and policy. She recently testified before Congress on issues relating to copyright, trademark, and Internet policy. Previously, she worked in the Office of the Vice President as Associate Counsel and Deputy Counsel to Vice President Joseph R. Biden. In that capacity, Oyama advised the Vice President and his staff on a wide range of legal issues including litigation, congressional inquiries, domestic policy, national security, judicial nominations, ethics law, political law, and regulatory affairs. Prior to her government service, Oyama was a litigation associate at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr’s Washington office, where she worked on intellectual property cases, government and regulatory litigation, and pro bono matters. She previously worked for a New York-based strategy consulting firm, a Silicon Valley-based Internet start-up, and a Washington-based public interest research organization. Oyama is a graduate of Smith College, where she graduated with high honors in Government, and the University of California, Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), where she served as senior articles editor of the Berkeley Technology Law Journal.
Preston Padden is the Executive Director of the Expanding Opportunities For Broadcasters Coalition. Padden also serves on the Advisory Board of Grotech Ventures, a private equity investment firm. Padden had a 38 year career in the media business holding the following positions: Assistant General Counsel, Metromedia; President, The Association of Independent Television Stations; President, Network Distribution, Fox Broadcasting Company; Chairman and CEO, American Sky Broadcasting (merged into Dish Network); President, ABC Television Network; and Executive Vice-President, Government Relations, The Walt Disney Company. Padden worked directly for leading industry CEO’s including Rupert Murdoch, Barry Diller, Michael Eisner and Bob Iger. He also served on the Boards of The National Association of Broadcasters and The Motion Picture Association of America. In his career Padden helped to launch the Fox Broadcast Network, secured waivers of multiple Federal regulations for News Corporation (including a waiver of the Federal Statute prohibiting foreign entities from owning U.S. broadcast stations) and secured legislation extending by 20 years the term of U.S. copyrights. Padden holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Maryland and a law degree from George Washington University.
Shira Perlmutter is the Chief Policy Officer and Director for International Affairs at the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Before joining the USPTO, Perlmutter was Executive Vice President for Global Legal Policy at the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). Prior to that, she held the position of Vice President and Associate General Counsel for Intellectual Property Policy at Time Warner. Perlmutter previously worked at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva as a consultant on the copyright issues involved in electronic commerce. She was also the first Associate Register for Policy and International Affairs at the U.S. Copyright Office and a copyright consultant to the Clinton Administration’s Advisory Council on the National Information Infrastructure. Perlmutter is a Research Fellow at the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre at Oxford University, and a lecturer at King’s College, University of London. She taught law at The Catholic University of America, and practiced in New York City, specializing in copyright and trademark counseling and litigation. Perlmutter received her A.B. from Harvard University and her J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.
Robert Quinn is Senior Vice President-Federal Regulatory and Chief Privacy Officer for AT&T. Quinn leads AT&T’s Federal Regulatory group which is responsible for all regulatory matters affecting AT&T and its affiliates before the Federal Communications Commission. He is also responsible for customer privacy policies at the international, federal and state level across all lines of businesses. Prior to being appointed to his current position, Quinn served as Vice President, Federal Regulatory Affairs for AT&T Corp. in Washington, DC where he represented AT&T before the Federal Communications Commission and the United States Department of Justice. Prior to joining AT&T, Quinn spent five years as a trial attorney with the Chicago, Illinois firm of Mayer, Brown & Platt (now Mayer Brown). Quinn graduated from the University of Illinois-Chicago with a bachelor’s degree in English. He also received his J.D. with Honor from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois where he served as Managing Editor of Lead Articles for the DePaul Law Review.
Edith Ramirez was sworn in as a Commissioner of the Federal Trade Commission on April 5, 2010, to a term that expires on September 25, 2015. She was designated to serve as Chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission effective March 4, 2013, by President Barack H. Obama. Prior to joining the Commission, Commissioner Ramirez was a partner in the Los Angeles office of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP, where she handled a broad range of complex business litigation, including intellectual property, antitrust, unfair competition, and Lanham Act matters. She also has extensive appellate litigation experience. Commissioner Ramirez was also an associate at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP in Los Angeles. Throughout her career, Commissioner Ramirez has been active in a variety of professional and community activities. Most recently, she served as the Vice President on the Board of Commissioners for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, the nation’s largest municipal utility. Commissioner Ramirez clerked for the Hon. Alfred T. Goodwin in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. She graduated from Harvard Law School cum laude, where she served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review, and holds an A.B. in History magna cum laude from Harvard University.
Alan Charles Raul is the lead Global Coordinator of Sidley’s Privacy, Data Security and Information Law practice. He has a broad litigation and counseling practice that covers government regulation, enforcement and administrative law, corporate compliance, data protection and information governance law. Raul’s practice in this area involves federal, state and international privacy issues, including regulatory compliance, privacy and consumer protection litigation, FTC, State Attorney General and congressional investigations, international data transfers, information security, cybersecurity, cloud computing, and representation in connection with data breaches. He also represents clients with respect to Internet Law, E-Commerce, marketing, advertising and other consumer issues. He has previously served as Vice Chairman of the White House Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, as General Counsel of the Office of Management and Budget and as Associate Counsel to the President. Raul received his law degree from Yale Law School.
David Redl is Chief Counsel for Communications and Technology on the majority staff of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce. In his role with the Committee, Redl advises Chairman Fred Upton and Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden on communications and technology matters. Prior to joining the Energy and Commerce Committee staff, Redl served as Director of Regulatory Affairs at CTIA – The Wireless Association®, an international trade association of the wireless communications industry where his work focused on policy issues involving wireless technology, spectrum, broadband, and regulatory mandates. He is a member of the New York and District of Columbia Bars. Redl received his B.A. in Journalism and his B.A. in Political Science from the Pennsylvania State University and his J.D. from the Catholic University of America with a certificate from the Institute for Communications Law Studies.
Courtney Reinhard is Legal Advisor, Wireless in the Office of Commissioner Ajit Pai at the Federal Communications Commission. Reinhard previously served with the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Budget where she served as Counsel and Budget Analyst to Chairman Paul Ryan. Her portfolio included telecommunications issues and agencies, with a focus on spectrum auctions, public safety communications, broadband grants, and the Universal Service Fund. Prior to joining the Budget Committee, Reinhard served as a Telecommunications Counsel for the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce where she specialized in wireless policy, rural telecommunications, E-911, and interoperability. She has also served as a policy advisor on communications, technology, and intellectual property issues to U.S. Senator Jim DeMint, U.S. Senator Sam Brownback, and U.S. Representative John Shimkus. Reinhard received her J.D. from George Mason School of Law and her B.A., with honors, from the University of California, Davis.
Tony Romm is a Technology Reporter for POLITICO Pro. He closely follows tech topics and debates on Capitol Hill and before agencies like the Federal Trade Commission, keeping a close eye on issues such as online privacy, antitrust and competitiveness, tech industry lobbying and PAC spending, intellectual property and cybersecurity. Romm has previously worked as a tech and general assignment blogger at The Hill, and his writing has appeared in publications such as The Washington Post, Slate and Stateline.org. He graduated from American University.
Gregory L. Rosston is Deputy Director of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research and Deputy Director of the Public Policy program at Stanford University. He is also a Lecturer in Economics and Public Policy at Stanford University where he teaches courses on competition policy and strategy, intellectual property, and writing and rhetoric. He currently serves as the co-chair of the Department of Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee. Rosston served as Deputy Chief Economist at the Federal Communications Commission working on the implementation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and he helped to design and implement the first ever spectrum auctions in the United States. He co-chaired the Economy, Globalization and Trade committee for the Obama campaign and was a member of the Obama transition team focusing on economic agency review and energy policy. He has served as a consultant to various organizations including the World Bank and the Federal Communications Commission, and as a board member and advisor to high technology, financial, and startup companies in the areas of auctions, business strategy, antitrust and regulation. Rosston received his Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University specializing in the fields of Industrial Organization and Public Finance and his A.B. with Honors in Economics from University of California at Berkeley.
Matthew Sandgren is Senior Counsel to Senator Orrin G. Hatch, the former Chairman and longest serving Republican of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Sandgren joined Senator Hatch’s personal office staff in 2003 and was promoted to the Judiciary Committee staff in 2007. Beyond intellectual property and technology, his legislative portfolio spans a good portion of the Judiciary panel’s jurisdiction including immigration, biotechnology, cybersecurity, privacy, and telecommunications. He is also Senator Hatch’s lead counsel for the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force and the Congressional International Anti-Piracy Caucus. Sandgren has been involved in several key intellectual property bills including the America Invents Act (P.L. 112-29), the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (P.L. 111-148), the Satellite Television Extension and Localism Act (P.L. 111-175), and the Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property Act (P.L. 110-403). Before coming to Washington, Sandgren worked in the legal department for Nu Skin Enterprises. He is a member of the Utah and District of Columbia bars, earned a B.A. from Brigham Young University, a J.D. from The University of Tulsa, and an LL.M. from The George Washington University.
Brendan Sasso is a staff writer for The Hill, where he covers technology policy and writes for the “Hillicon Valley” blog. He previously worked at National Journal as a researcher and contributing writer for the Almanac of American Politics. He graduated from Claremont McKenna College with a degree in government.
Carl Shapiro is the Transamerica Professor of Business Strategy in the Haas School of Business at the University of California at Berkeley. Shapiro has published extensively in the areas of industrial organization, competition policy, patents, the economics of innovation, and competitive strategy. His current research interests include competition policy, the economics of innovation, the design and use of patents, housing finance, and energy and environmental economics. Shapiro previously served as a Member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers. For the two years immediately prior to that, he was the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for Economics at the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, a position he also held during 1995-96. Shapiro also served as Director of the Institute of Business and Economic Research at UC Berkeley. He has been Editor and Co-Editor of the Journal of Economic Perspectives and a Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. Shapiro previously taught at Princeton University and has been on the Berkeley faculty since 1990. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics at MIT.
Michael D. Smith is a Professor of Information Systems and Marketing and Co-Director of the Center for Digital Media Research at Carnegie Mellon University. He holds academic appointments at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Information Systems and Management and the Tepper School of Business. Smith has received several notable awards including the National Science Foundation’s prestigious CAREER Research Award, and he was recently selected as one of the top 100 “emerging engineering leaders in the United States” by the National Academy of Engineering. Smith received a Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering (summa cum laude) and a Masters of Science in Telecommunications Science from the University of Maryland, and received a Ph.D. in Management Science from the Sloan School of Management at MIT.
Cliff Stearns is a senior advisor for APCO Worldwide and serves as a member of APCO’s International Advisory Council. He is a former U.S. congressman for Florida’s 6th district, where he gained extensive experience in telecommunications, technology, cybersecurity and international trade during his 24 years of service. As chair of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, he helped increase transparency in the federal government. Congressman Stearns served as the Republican leader on the Communications, Technology and Internet Subcommittee and was chairman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade where he enacted consumer privacy and data security legislation. Congressman Stearns was a member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, a member of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and chairman of the Transatlantic Dialogue for the European Union. Prior to joining the U.S. Congress, Congressman Stearns worked for CBS, Inc. and Kotula advertising company. He then started his own company as president and chief operating officer of Stearns House, Inc., which managed, operated and owned motels and restaurants in Florida. Earlier, he was a captain in the United States Air Force and served four years as an aerospace project engineer providing satellite reconnaissance of Vietnam. Congressman Stearns earned a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
Thomas J. Sugrue is Senior Vice President of Government Affairs at T-Mobile U.S.A., where he is responsible for managing T-Mobile’s regulatory and legislative activities at both the federal and state levels. Prior to joining T-Mobile, Sugrue served for four years as Chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau in the Federal Communications Commission, was a partner in the Washington D. C. law firm of Halprin, Temple, Goodman & Sugrue, and Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Prior to NTIA, Sugrue was Chief of the Policy Division in the Common Carrier Bureau at the FCC, where he was responsible for developing and implementing a number of key policy initiatives, including the FCC’s interconnection, open network, and unbundling rules; the Commission’s “access charge” policies; the promotion of universal service; and the transition to competition in various telecommunications markets, including the break-up of the Bell System. He also was an attorney with the law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering and a law clerk with the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. Sugrue holds a J.D. degree, magna cum laude, from Harvard Law School, a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University, and a Bachelor of Science degree in physics, magna cum laude, from Boston College.
Thomas J. Tauke is a former Executive Vice President – Public Affairs, Policy and Communications at Verizon and served as a member of Verizon’s Leadership Council. Before joining NYNEX (predecessor of Verizon), Tauke was a member of Congress, representing Iowa’s 2nd District in the U.S. House of Representatives. During his congressional service, he was a member of the Telecommunications Subcommittee and the Energy and Commerce, Education and Labor, and Small Business Committees. Tauke also served as a member of the Iowa General Assembly. Tauke is a past chairman of the U.S. Telecom Association. He is chairman of Home Tech Systems, Inc., serves on the boards of the Business Industry Political Action Committee, Fix the Debt, and Bipartisan Policy Center Advocacy Network ; serves as chair of the Executive Committee of the Board of Jobs for America’s Graduates; and sits on the board and executive committee of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Tauke received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Loras College and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Iowa College of Law.
Hal R. Varian is the Chief Economist at Google. Varian has been involved in many aspects of the company, including auction design, econometric analysis, finance, corporate strategy and public policy. He is also an Emeritus Professor at the University of California, Berkeley in three departments: business, economics, and information management, and a Fellow of the Guggenheim Foundation, the Econometric Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Varian has published numerous papers in economic theory, industrial organization, financial economics, econometrics and information economics. He is the co-author of a bestselling book on business strategy, Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy. He was Co-Editor of the American Economic Review and has taught at MIT, Stanford, Oxford, Michigan and other universities around the world. He received his S.B. degree from MIT and his M.A. in Mathematics and Ph.D. in Economics from UC Berkeley. Varian holds honorary doctorates from the University of Oulu, Finland and the University of Karlsruhe, Germany.
Scott Wallsten is vice president for research and senior fellow at the Technology Policy Institute. He is an economist with expertise in industrial organization and public policy. His research focuses on telecommunications, regulation, competition, and technology policy. His research has been published in numerous academic journals and his commentaries have appeared in newspapers and news magazines around the world. He is also a senior fellow at the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy. He was the economics director for the FCC’s National Broadband Plan and has been a lecturer in Stanford University’s public policy program, director of communications policy studies and senior fellow at the Progress & Freedom Foundation, a senior fellow at the AEI – Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, an economist at The World Bank, a scholar at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, and a staff economist at the U.S. President’s Council of Economic Advisers. He holds a PhD in economics from Stanford University.
Joe Waz serves as Senior Strategic Advisor to Comcast Corporation. He retired from Comcast in 2011, having served as Senior Vice President, External Affairs and Public Policy Counsel and returned to the company in an advisory capacity in 2013. He previously served as the President of Altura West, LLC, a strategy and public policy consultancy for the communications, media, and Internet industries. He was also a Senior Fellow at the Silicon Flatirons Center at the University of Colorado School of Law. Waz was Founding President of the Comcast Foundation and Executive Director of the Comcast Political Action Committees. He served two terms as Board Chair of Settlement Music School, America’s oldest and largest community school of the arts; was Founding Chair of the Broadband Internet Technology Advisory Group; and served as President of the Federal Communications Bar Foundation. His current or past Boards include the Internet Education Foundation, TPRC, the Internet Education Foundation, the Family Online Safety Institute, and the Board of Advisers of the Minority Media & Telecommunications Council, among others. He has been recognized with the Donald McGannon Award from the United Church of Christ OC, Inc. for promoting opportunities for women and minorities in communications, and is a member of the Hall of Fame of the Minority Media & Telecommunications Council. In 2002, he received the cable industry’s highest honor, the Vanguard Award, for his work in government and community relations.
Joshua Wright is a Commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission. Prior to joining the Commission, Wright was a professor at George Mason University School of Law and held a courtesy appointment in the Department of Economics. Wright is a leading scholar in antitrust law, economics, and consumer protection and has published more than 60 articles and book chapters. Wright also served as Co-Editor of the Supreme Court Economic Review and a Senior Editor of the Antitrust Law Journal. Wright previously served the Commission in the Bureau of Competition as its inaugural Scholar-in-Residence from 2007 to 2008, where he focused on enforcement matters and competition policy. Wright’s return to the Commission marks his fourth stint at the agency, after having served as an intern in both the Bureau of Economics and Bureau of Competition in 1997 and 1998, respectively. Before his tenure at George Mason University School of Law, Wright clerked for Judge James V. Selna of the United States District Court for the Central District of California and taught at the Pepperdine University Graduate School of Public Policy. Wright received his J.D. from UCLA, his Ph.D. in economics from UCLA, and graduated with honors from the University of California, San Diego.
Christopher Yoo is the John H. Chestnut Professor of Law and Communication and Director of the Center for Technology, Innovation, and Competition at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Yoo is one of the nation’s leading authorities on law and technology. His research focuses on exploring how the principles of network engineering and the economics of imperfect competition can provide insights into the regulation of the Internet and other forms of electronic communications. Yoo was previously a Professor of Law and Founding Director of the Technology and Entertainment Law Program at Vanderbilt University. He also worked as an Associate in the Appellate Group at Hogan & Hartson, LLP. Yoo clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy and at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He received his A.B. from Harvard, an M.B.A. from UCLA and a J.D. from Northwestern University School of Law.
