Personnel Notes

National Association of Broadcasters has hired Washington lawyer Christopher Ornelas to serve as its chief strategy officer.

Most recently, Ornelas worked in the telecommunications practice at Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, where he represented wireline, cable, wireless and satellite operators.

Prior to that, Ornelas was chief counsel on communications and technology policy in the office then-Sen. Gordon Smith, who is now president of NAB, handling communications matters before the Senate Commerce Committee.

He also represented broadcasters while at Wilkinson Barker Knauer.

Blair Levin, who headed up the FCC's National Broadband Plan effort, will depart the commission early next month to become a Communications and Society Fellow for the Aspen Institute.

The announcement Thursday puts an end to growing speculation over whether Levin, the executive director of the Omnibus Broadband Initiative, would remain with the agency now that the broadband plan is completed, or resume his job as an analyst for Stifel Nicolaus, a private investment firm.

“Blair has been masterful in providing wisdom to the Commission about how technology and market trends interact with the nation’s public policy agenda,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski noted in a statement on Thursday.

“His leadership in raising the quality of work and thought throughout the Commission is beyond measure and I am sure he will continue to make similar contributions for the country while he is at the Aspen Institute,” Genachowski added.

Levin will officially depart the FCC for his new fellow post on May 7. Perhaps serendipitously, some of his work there will focus on the National Broadband Plan that he and his coworkers at the commission delivered to lawmakers in early March.
Read more...

Telecom, media and technology attorneys at Washington law firm Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman today launched a site aiming to provide regulatory analysis and legal explanations for the communications policy world.

The site, CommLawCenter.com, will have contributions from attorneys Scott Flick, Glenn Richards and John Hane, among others.

Check it out here.

Facebook's Washington office is expanding next week. The company has hired Corey Owens to join its government affairs team.

Owens is leaving his position as spokesman for the United Food and Commercial Workers union to become a policy associate for Facebook. He will bring the company's Washington operation to 4 people.

Owens previously worked in the Washington office of the American Civil Liberties Union. Tim Sparapani, who joined the company last year to become its top lobbyist, also worked at ACLU.

Appropriately, Owens announced his departure on Facebook.

Media Access Project announced that former FCC Commissioner Tyrone Brown will become its new president starting April 1.

Brown will succeed Andrew Jay Schwartzman, who has served as the public interest group's president for three decades. Schwartzman will continue to serve as Senior Vice President and Policy Director for MAP.

Schwartzman has been a well-known member of the public interest community in Washington, most recently testifying before several congressional committees in opposition of the proposed mega-merger of Comcast and NBC Universal.

Brown served on the FCC during the Carter Administration and has also worked at prominent DC law firms including Wiley Rein and Steptoe & Johnson. He also participated in several telecom and media start-ups, including co-founding DC's first cable TV system.

Sena Fitzmaurice has been promoted to vice president of Comcast's Government Communications wing, the company announced Wednesday.

Fitzmaurice will be responsible for heading up the government affairs and communications work of Comcast's Washington D.C. office, where she previously serve as senior director of Government Communications, according to Comcast.

“Sena has successfully led our national communications strategy in Washington for some of the most important initiatives that impact our company and our industry,” said David L. Cohen, executive vice president of Comcast. “Sena is a talented professional with a unique ability to navigate complex issues and communicate them to critical stakeholders.”

Fitzmaurice has assisted Comcast's D.C. communications shop in a variety of capacities since 2006. Previously, she worked as a principal lobbyist with Wexler and Wexler Public Policy Associates. Before that, she assisted Comcast's communications work at its Philadelphia headquarters.

Dan Glickman, outgoing chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, gave his last major address today in Las Vegas, touting the movie industry's "power to change people's lives and, in doing so, to change the world."

Glickman said the era of 3-D movies is bringing people back to the theatres, as demonstrated by recent news that the 2009 box office saw a return to growth in U.S. admissions. But as always, there are challenges in racing to keep up with the latest digital techniques.

"Technology will help resolve these issues in a balanced and fair way, while opening new opportunities for creators to share their works with the world," he said at the ShoWest convention.

The protection of intellectual process must remain a priority for the movie inudstry that supports more than 2.4 million American jobs in every state of the country. The Pro-IP Act laid a strong foundation for IP protection, he said.

Glickman announced the relaunch of www.filmratings.com.

“We’re hoping this will provide some added transparency, shining a light on how the process works and promoting better understanding of the lesser-known, but equally important Advertising Administration, which strives to ensure every piece of movie advertising is appropriate for the audiences that see it,” he said.

Glickman is leaving the MPAA in April to become president of Refugees International. A search is still underway to fill the position, which is widely considered to be the most glamorous lobbying job in Washington.

“Movies will always be my first love,” he said. “But now I get to follow my heart back into public service.”

He concluded by saying, “I won’t say goodbye — just ‘see you at the movies.’ ”

Former FCC Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy has joined the board of directors for USTelecom, a trade association representing large and medium-sized telephone companies.

Abernathy, a Republican, served on the FCC under the George W. Bush Administration from 2001 to 2005.  She is now chief legal officer of Frontier Communications. Most recently, she was a partner at Wilkinson Barker Knauer. 

While at the FCC, she tended to favor less government oversight of the communications industry.

Frontier Communications will soon be the largest rural telephone company in the U.S., thanks to the $8.6 billion purchase last year of 4.8 million Verizon access lines in 14 states. That includes West Virginia, the home state of Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller.

The USTelecom board also includes James Cicconi of AT&T, Jeff Gardner of Windstream Corp., Tom Gerke of CenturyLink and Tom Tauke of Verizon.

One of AT&T's lobbyists is leaving Washington as he climbs the corporate ladder.

AT&T announced today that it has promoted Rodney A. Smith to be president of AT&T Connecticut, where he will lead the state's legislative agenda.

In his new role, Smith will work with state and local officials to bring AT&T's services, including its U-Verse video services, to more Connecticut residents.

As a lobbyist, Smith advocated for AT&T on telecom, broadband and wireless issues.

Before joining the company, he held stints as a Capitol Hill staffer and journalist.

Facebook's Washington office is expanding.

The burgeoning social network just posted new positions to build on its current team of three D.C. staffers.

Facebook is looking for a "public policy manager" and a "public policy associate" to help tackle the growing list of issues the company now faces in Washington.

Congress continues to flirt with the idea of enacting privacy legislation, which would have an enormous impact on how Facebook and other internet companies collect consumer data. The Federal Trade Commission is eyeing new regulations for the online advertising industry, on which Facebook relies for revenue. And privacy advocates and consumer groups are quick to voice concerns Facebook's growing arsenal of personal information.

At least one of the new additions will be a lobbyist. Responsibilities will include leading outreach to consumer groups, monitoring legislation, meeting with government officials and building coalitions to advance Facebook's policy goals.

Facebook opened its D.C. office in 2007, relying on Adam Conner to handle outreach to lawmakers and their staffs. Last year, Facebook hired veteran privacy advocate Tim Sparapani, formerly with the ACLU, to lead its lobbying efforts. Andrew Noyes, former Congress Daily reporter, joined the team in November as communications manager.

The company is expanding outside the United States as well. It just opened an office in Germany and is looking for two new policy managers to represent Facebook in Europe. Since each country has vastly different privacy laws, Facebook needs additional resources as the social network spreads around the world.