Personnel Notes

Federal Trade Commission chairman Jon Leibowitz announced Thursday that Princeton computer science professor Edward Felten will serve as the agency's first chief technologist.

A prominent researcher, Felten is founding director of Princeton's Center for Information Technology Policy and serves as a part-time consultant for the FTC. In his new role — starting in January — he will advise the commission on consumer-related technology policy issues such as cybersecurity, online privacy and antitrust matters. Felten will take a one-year leave of absence from Princeton to work at the FTC.

"The trade commission is heavily involved with issues that touch on technology," Felten said. "Much of my research and the work of CITP focuses on issues of consumer protection and competitiveness. This is a chance for me to apply what I've been studying and see the policymaking process from the inside."

Leibowitz said Felten will provide valuable input on the FTC's upcoming recommendations for online privacy, as well as on enforcement actions the commission is planning to unveil in order to protect consumer privacy.

Adobe Systems has hired Sen. Orrin Hatch's (R-Utah) chief of staff as a lobbyist.

Jace Johnson is leaving Hatch's office to take a position as vice president of global government affairs for the San Jose, Calif.,-based software firm. Johnson became chief of staff in December 2007 after serving two years as legislative director. He started in Hatch's office as a legislative assistant in 2002 and holds an M.B.A. from George Washington University.

Johnson will be replaced by Michael Kennedy, who serves as vice president for federal at state relations at Utah State University. In a statement issued Wednesday, Hatch said despite his departure, Johnson "will remain a close political adviser."

Kennedy previously worked in Washington as a lobbyist for seven years representing various public interests in Utah.

Patton Boggs has hired three new partners for its technology and communications practice, two of which previously worked with former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin. Martin also works at Patton Boggs as a partner and as co-chair of the communications practice.

The new hires:

Matthew Berry, who was general counsel and deputy general counsel to the FCC under Martin.

Monica Desai, a former legal advisor to Martin at the FCC. She has also served as chief of the media bureau, chief of the consumer bureau and deputy chief of the wireless bureau.

Robert Quicksilver, formerly the president of network distribution and a lobbyist at Fox Broadcasting Co.

The Business Software Alliance announced Wednesday the appointment of former Washington Post and Sacramento Bee reporter Chris Hopfensperger as technology policy counsel. 

In his new position, Hopfensperger will advocate on behalf of the global software industry for policy positions in areas such as privacy, e-commerce and cloud computing. He joins BSA from the law firm K&L Gates, where advised companies on pending legislation and represented their interests in Washington as a technology and trade policy associate. Prior to joining K&L Gates he worked as a journalist for the Post, the Bee and the St. Petersburg Times.

“Chris’s background in technology patent and trade issues will be vital to moving BSA’s policy initiatives forward, especially as new debates develop around cloud computing,” said BSA vice president of government relations Katherine McGuire.

Hopfensperger holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Nebraska and a law degree from the University of Michigan.

The Federal Communications Commission is looking for nominees with disabilities or a history representing the disabled to serve on two new advisory committees related to providing emergency services for the deaf and blind.

The FCC announced Tuesday it is seeking nominations to serve on the Emergency Access Advisory Committee (EAAC) and the Video Programming and Emergency Access Advisory Committee (VPEAAC). The committees will help implement the provisions of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, which President Obama signed into law earlier this month.

The law is aimed at increasing access to the Internet, television and telecommunications for people with disabilities using tools such as closed captioning and video descriptions. For example, the bill would enable audible descriptions of action on-screen for the visually impaired and require Internet telephone equipment to be compatible with hearing aids.

The EAAC is in charge of conducting a nationwide survey of people with disabilities to determine the most effective way to offer them access to emergency services. The Commission is looking for nominees that either have disabilities or have advocated for organizations representing those with disabilities in the past. Elected officials, emergency responders or subject matter experts are also welcome.

The VPEAAC is tasked with developing recommendations for closed captioning Internet broadcasts of previously aired television programs. The board will also recommend how to provide descriptions of video content and emergency services to the visually impaired. The Commission is looking for nominees that have represented stakeholders in the past including the visually impaired, broadcasters or technology manufacturers.

The maker of the popular Firefox Web browser Mozilla announced late last week it will appoint veteran software executive Gary Kovacs to be its new chief executive.

Kovacs is currently senior vice president of mobile products at the German software giant SAP. His appointment ends a six-month search for a new chief executive at Mozilla, following current CEO John Lilly's announcement he will leave to join the venture capital firm Greylock Partners. Kovacs was previously a senior executive at SAP subsidiary Sybase and also held various senior positions at Macromedia and Adobe between 2003 and 2008.

Kovacs is the second former SAP executive to be named to a high-profile position in recent weeks following the appointment of former CEO Leo Apotheker to be chief executive of Hewlett-Packard. He holds a Bachelor's of Commerce and an MBA from the University of Calgary.

Since its introduction in 2004, Firefox has become the industry standard for open-source Web browsing, allowing it to push past competitors such as Apple's Safari and Microsoft's formerly ubiquitous Internet Explorer. The browser has been credited for speeding up and stabilizing Web browsers and spurring competition in the market, such as Google's Chrome.

The latest version of Firefox is due to be released toward the end of next year, but Mozilla is reportedly eyeing social media and mobile devices as other areas where consumers might be looking for increased choice. They are currently working on a mobile version of Firefox and considering building an application that will allow users to track their friends across several social media sites.

Copyright Alliance executive director Patrick Ross announced Wednesday he is stepping down to return to a full-time writing career.

The nonprofit advocacy group is dedicated to protecting the rights of copyright holders. Members include organizations that represent musicians, songwriters, broadcasters, sports leagues such as NASCAR, and the film industry. The alliance's board of directors has begun a search for a new executive director; Ross will remain in his position while that search is under way.

Ross helped found the alliance in 2007 after leaving his position as senior fellow and vice president of The Progress & Freedom think tank. He also worked during the late 1980s for Senate Majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). Prior to joining Reid's office, Ross spent 10 years as a reporter covering Capitol Hill and the independent regulatory agencies for Communications Daily, CNET News and other publications. He holds a B.A. in international relations from Pomona College.

President Obama named two officials on Tuesday to a committee that advises the White House on the security and reliability of the telecom industry.

The President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee is a panel of industry leaders that aims to provide the President with advice and expertise on the state of the telecom industry. The goal is to develop recommendations to assure critical telecommunications services remain operational through any event or crisis and to help the government maintain a reliable, secure, and resilient national communications infrastructure.

Obama announced his intent via e-mail to nominate James Crowe to be chairman of the committee. Crowe is currently chief executive of Level 3 Communications and has 25 years of experience in the telecom industry. Prior to joining Level 3 he founded and served as CEO of MFS Communications until it merged with WorldCom in 1996, when he became chairman of the combined entity. Crowe holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Obama also announced his intent to name Maggie Wilderotter vice chair of the committee.  Wilderotter is chairman and CEO of Frontier Communications, a leading rural telecom provider. She previously served as senior vice president of worldwide public sector at Microsoft, executive vice President of national operations for AT&T Wireless Services Inc., and CEO of AT&T's aviation communications division. She was also named one of Fortune magazine's "50 Most Powerful Women in Business." Wilderotter earned a B.A. in economics and business administration from Holy Cross College.

The Internet telephone company Skype will replace chief executive Joshua Silverman with former Cisco executive Tony Bates, according to a report from the New York Times.

Silverman joined Skype in early 2008 and will leave at the end of the month to make room for Bates. His departure is viewed as a sign the firm is preparing for its initial public offering; Skype filed for an IPO in August but has not indicated when it plans to complete the sale.

Bates currently leads Cisco's enterprise, commercial and small business division, which has roughly $20 billion in annual revenues and 12,500 employees. He is the second Cisco executive to leave for Skype in the last year, joining Jonathan Rosenberg, now Skype's chief technology executive. Bates was also in charge of Cisco's voice technology group and is expected to find ways to generate more profits from Skype's 560 million registered users.

Skype earned a profit of $13 million on revenue of $406 million through the first half of the year. Only 8.1 million of those customers pay to use the service; most users use Skype to make free calls to other users or pay a few cents per minute for calls to non-subscribers.

The online auction site eBay paid $2.6 billion for Skype in 2005 only to sell a majority stake to the private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners last November. eBay retains a 30 percent state in the company, which was valued at $2.75 billion at the time of last year's sale.

Hewlett-Packard announced Thursday that Léo Apotheker will become the company's next chief executive and president starting November 1.

Apotheker suceeds Mark Hurd at the helm of the world's largest computer manufacter after Hurd resigned last month over improprieties concerning his expense account and an HP contractor. He joined Oracle earlier this month as co-president, prompting a lawsuit and subsequent settlement with HP in which he waived any remaining compensation due to him as part of his severance agreement.

Apotheker spent more than 20 years at SAP, where he served as chief executive and helped it become a major force in the market for business software applications. The German software firm enjoyed 18 consecutive quarters of double-digit growth in software revenue under his leadership between 2004 and 2009, according to a statement from HP.

“Léo is a strategic thinker with a passion for technology, wide-reaching global experience and proven operational discipline – exactly what we were looking for in a CEO,” said Robert Ryan, a member of HP's board of directors. “After more than two decades in the industry, he has a strong track record of driving technological innovation, building customer relationships and developing world-class teams.”

Oracle's hiring of Hurd has prompted speculation the two firms will butt heads as the industry's focus shifts from producing hardware to selling cloud-based storage and services. HP outbid rival Dell for the data storage firm 3PAR last month in order to gain a foothold in the high-end data storage market. Read more...