Tech Policy Central Events: Speakers

Speakers

Co-hosted by the Consumer Electronics Association, Tech Policy Summit @ CES brings together influential thought leaders involved in shaping the future of telecom and tech policy in the United States.

You'll have a chance to hear directly from leading technologists, content creators, consumer advocates, legal experts, and government officials in a series of candid panel discussions moderated by prominent journalists.

Details the moderators and speakers are available below. To receive event updates via email, please join the Tech Policy Central mailing list. You can also review the schedule on the Agenda page.

Remember that there is no additional charge to attend Tech Policy Summit sessions, but you must have an official CES registration badge so make sure to sign up soon at the CES site. As a bonus, when you register for CES, you automatically get access to all CES keynotes, which feature industry heavyweights like Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Intel CEO Paul Otellini and Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo.

Speaker Bios

Dave Allen
Co-founder and President, Pampelmoose and
Co-founder and Business Development Director, Fight

Dave Allen is the co-founder and business development director for Fight, a digital strategy company. Fight's largest client is currently Portland General Electric, a Portland-based energy utility.

As founding member and bass player for the post-punk band Gang of Four, and later a digital music consultant for Fortune 500 companies, Mr. Allen has been a frontline player in the music industry. Adjusting with industry evolution, he has been a band founder, label owner, corporate advisor and social media pioneer. He has worked at companies such as Intel, eMusic and Nemo Design.

His highly trafficked music and MP3 blog, Pampelmoose.com, is the latest step in his ten year mission to reduce the transactional friction between music lovers, musical artists and copyright holders during internet distribution. Pampelmoose has an international audience and has been noted in Time Magazine.

At Fight, Mr. Allen works with business planners and creative directors, helping cultivate digital influence for clients. Following the same guidelines that have grown his own digital presence to one of the top cultural voices globally via the internet, he ensures an authentic and progressive social media presence for Fight and its clients. He is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Northwest Chapter of the Grammy Organization.

Peter Appel
Administrator, RTIA,
U.S. Department of Transportation

Peter Appel was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as administrator of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RTIA) on April 29, 2009. Before joining RITA, Mr. Appel was with the global management consulting firm of A.T. Kearney, Inc. He has led business improvement initiatives for clients in the private and public sectors, with a focus on transportation and infrastructure.

Mr. Appel has over 20 years of experience in transportation, and has supported organizations in the railroad, trucking, airline, and ocean shipping industries with growth strategy, supply chain improvement, post-merger integration, public-private partnerships and other key business and policy issues. Previously, he served as the special assistant to the administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, and as assistant director for pricing and yield management at Amtrak.

Mr. Appel earned his bachelor's degree from Brandeis University in economics and computer science with highest honors, and received his Master of Science in transportation from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Meredith Atwell Baker
Commissioner,
Federal Communications Commission

Meredith Attwell Baker was nominated by President Barack Obama as a member of the Federal Communications Commission on June 25, 2009, and sworn in on July 31, 2009.

Commissioner Baker most recently served as acting assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information and acting administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). She was named deputy assistant secretary in February 2007 and first joined NTIA as a senior advisor in January 2004. She also served as acting associate administrator for the Office of International Affairs and on detail to the White House, Office of Science and Technology Policy.

At NTIA, she advised and represented the Executive Branch on both domestic and international telecommunications and information policy activities. NTIA under Commissioner Baker pursued the effective and efficient utilization of radiofrequency spectrum by the federal government through its management of federal spectrum use, performed cutting edge telecommunications research and engineering, and oversaw the management of the Internet's domain name and numbering system. She also administered the coupon program to help facilitate the nation's historic transition to digital television.

Before joining NTIA, Commissioner Baker was vice president at the firm of Williams Mullen Strategies where she focused on telecommunications, intellectual property and international trade issues. Earlier, she held the position as senior counsel to Covad Communications from 2000 to 2002, and director of congressional affairs at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) from 1998 to 2000. She worked at the U.S. Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit in Houston and later at the law firm of DeLange and Hudspeth, L.L.P. From 1990 to 1992, she worked in the Legislative Affairs Office of the U.S. Department of State in Washington.

Commissioner Baker earned a bachelor of arts degree from Washington & Lee University in 1990 and a law degree from the University of Houston in 1994. She is a member of the Texas State Bar.

Phil Bellaria
Director, Scenario Planning, National Broadband Task Force,
Federal Communications Commission

Phil Bellaria is the director of scenario planning for the National Broadband Task Force at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In this role, he leads a team that defines and evaluates future scenarios to drive higher broadband deployment and adoption and achieve a world-leading broadband infrastructure. Specifically, he focuses on identifying, evaluating, and recommending alternative scenarios to free additional spectrum for wireless broadband service, to improve efficiency of current spectrum usage, and to drive innovation in consumer broadband-enabled devices.

Prior to joining the FCC, Mr. Bellaria served on the senior management team at Charter Communications, where at various times he led customer loyalty and retention, business intelligence, and telephone product management and served as chief of staff to the CEO. Prior to joining Charter, he worked in management consulting with McKinsey & Company. He led McKinsey and client teams in media and telecommunications, focusing on building go-to-market strategies for new consumer products and services and on managing the customer lifecycle to maximize profitable revenue growth.

Mr. Bellaria also served in the United States Air Force as an Intelligence Officer. He holds a B.A. from Duke University, an M.A. from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

With more than 25 years of technology experience, Eric J. Bowden is an effective business executive with experience helping high-tech companies improve the quality and effectiveness of their products. His management career has touched hardware and software development, quality management consulting and high-tech publishing.

As a founder and CTO at KeyLabs, he developed the product and service strategies that helped clients such as IBM, Sun Microsystems, Hitachi and HP develop quality into their products. Prior to joining Safe Driving Systems, Mr. Bowden was COO at DAZ 3D. In that capacity, he was responsible for all 3D software and 3D content development.

Additionally, his career has been deeply rooted in technology product development. Starting out his career as a mainframe programmer, he has worked with LAN and network products, identity management hardware and software, desktop and web applications. He holds an MBA with emphasis in information technology and a bachelor's degree in organizational communications.

Dean Brenner
Vice President, Government Affairs,
Qualcomm

Dean Brenner is vice president, government affairs for Qualcomm Incorporated where he directs the company's initiatives relating to spectrum and telecommunications policy in North America. Mr. Brenner represents Qualcomm before the Federal Communications Commission and other agencies of the United States and Canadian governments responsible for spectrum and telecommunications policy. In addition, he works on spectrum and regulatory matters for Qualcomm around the world.

Mr. Brenner was responsible for obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals to launch Qualcomm's MediaFLO USA mobile TV network, which is now the largest mobile TV network in the world. In addition, he led Qualcomm's team participating in recent spectrum auctions in the United States (the 700 MHz band) and the United Kingdom (the L Band). He has spoken at conferences on spectrum policy issues in the United States and around the world.

Before joining Qualcomm in 2003, Mr. Brenner was a partner in the Washington, DC-based law firm he co-founded, Crispin & Brenner, P.L.L.C., where he specialized in telecommunications law and litigation. He began his career at the law firm of Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand.

He received his A.B. degree, magna cum laude with distinction in public policy studies, from Duke University in 1982. He won a prize for the best paper on communications policy, and he was a recipient for four years of a CBS Scholarship. He received his J.D., cum laude, from Georgetown University in 1985. He is admitted to the Bars of the District of Columbia, Maryland, and the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the D.C., Third, and Eleventh Circuits, and the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Michael Calabrese
Vice President and Director, Wireless Future Program,
New America Foundation

Michael Calabrese is Vice President and Director of the Wireless Future Program at the New America Foundation, a non-profit think tank based in Washington, D.C. He oversees the Foundation's efforts to improve our nation's management of publicly-owned assets - particularly the public airwaves. New America has advocated open, unlicensed access to an increasing share of the airwaves to facilitate innovation and more affordable and ubiquitous community wireless broadband access.

Previously, Mr. Calabrese served as General Counsel of the Congressional Joint Economic Committee and as benefits counsel at the national AFL-CIO. He is the co-author of three previous books on policy and politics and has published opinion articles in the nation's leading outlets, including The Atlantic Monthly, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

He is a graduate of Stanford Business and Law Schools, where he earned a JD/MBA degree; and a graduate of Harvard College, where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics and government.

Mignon Clyburn
Commissioner,
Federal Communications Commission

Commissioner Clyburn has a long history of public service and dedication to the public interest. Prior to her swearing in as Commissioner, Ms. Clyburn served for 11 years as the representative of South Carolina's sixth district on the Public Service Commission of South Carolina (PSC). She was sworn in for her first term in July 1998, and was subsequently reelected in 2002 and 2006. She served as chair of the PSC from July 2002 through June 2004.

During her tenure at the PSC, Commissioner Clyburn actively participated in numerous national and regional state-based utility organizations. Most recently, Ms. Clyburn served as the chair of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners' (NARUC) Washington Action Committee and as a member of both the association's Audit Committee and Utilities Market Access Partnership Board. Commissioner Clyburn is also a former chair of the Southeastern Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (SEARUC).

Commissioner Clyburn was elected to the South Carolina PSC following 14 years as the publisher and general manager of The Coastal Times, a Charleston-based weekly newspaper that focused primarily on issues affecting the African American community. She owned and operated the family-founded newspaper following her graduation from the University of South Carolina, where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Banking, Finance & Economics.

For well over two decades, Commissioner Clyburn has been actively involved in myriad community organizations. Prior to her appointment at the FCC, Commissioner Clyburn served on the South Carolina State Energy Advisory Council, the Trident Technical College Foundation, the South Carolina Cancer Center Board, the Columbia College Board of Visitors, the Palmetto Project Board and has enjoyed previous service as chair of the YWCA of Greater Charleston and on the boards of Reid House of Christian Service, Edventure Children's Museum, Trident Urban League and the Trident United Way.

Susan Crawford
Professor, University of Michigan Law School and
Special Assistant to the President for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy

Susan Crawford is a Special Assistant to the President for Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy and a member of the National Economic Council. She is also a professor at the University of Michigan Law School where she teaches cyberlaw and telecommunications law. She has been on leave from the University during her tenure in the White House and will be returning to teaching in January 2010.

Ms. Crawford was a member of the ICANN Board from 2005-2008, and is the founder of OneWebDay. She received her B.A. (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and J.D. from Yale University. She served as a clerk for Judge Raymond J. Dearie of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, and was a partner at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering until the end of 2002, when she left that firm to enter the legal academy.

David Donovan
President,
Association for Maximum Service Television (MSTV)

David Donovan was named president of the Association for Maximum Service Television, Inc. (MSTV) on July 1, 2001. Founded in 1956, MSTV is a national association of over 430 local television stations dedicated to promoting technical quality of free, local over-the air television service and has taken a leading role in the transition to digital television service.

Mr. Donovan has nearly twenty years of broadcast regulatory and policy experience. Prior to accepting the position of MSTV president, he served for over a decade as the vice president for legal and legislative affairs for the Association of Local Television Stations, Inc. (ALTV).

From 1987 to 1990, he was the mass media legal advisor for the Honorable James H. Quello, FCC Commissioner. He also held a number of key positions at the FCC, including legal advisor to the Mass Media Bureau Chief and interim mass media advisor to Commissioner Patricia Diaz Dennis. Mr. Donovan came to the Commission from Boston, Massachusetts, where he was in the private practice of law. He also served as law clerk to the Judicial Council of Massachusetts.

He earned his J.D. from the Suffolk University Law School in Boston and he received both a bachelor of arts and a master's degree in communications from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Neil Fried
Senior Telecommunications Counsel,
U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee

Neil Fried is senior telecommunications counsel to the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee. He handles television, radio, telecommunications, spectrum and Internet issues for Rep. Joe Barton, ranking member of the full committee, and Rep. Cliff Stearns, ranking member of the Subcommittee on Communications, Technology and the Internet.

Among other things, Mr. Fried was involved in the enactment of the 2005 digital television transition legislation. Before joining the committee in August 2003, he spent three years in private practice, where he specialized in television and telecommunications issues. Prior to his work in the private sector, he served four years with the Federal Communications Commission as an attorney in what is now the Wireline Competition Bureau. There, Mr. Fried helped implement the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

He has an undergraduate degree from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, and earned his law degree from the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis, Missouri.

Julius Genachowski
Chairman,
Federal Communications Commission

Julius Genachowski was nominated by President Barack Obama as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission on March 3, 2009, and sworn into office on June 29, 2009.

Chairman Genachowski has two decades of experience in public service and the private sector. Prior to his appointment, he spent more than 10 years working in the technology industry as an executive and entrepreneur. He co-founded LaunchBox Digital and Rock Creek Ventures, where he served as managing director, and he was a Special Advisor at General Atlantic. In these capacities, he worked to start, accelerate, and invest in early- and mid-stage technology and other companies. From 1997-2005, he was a senior executive at IAC/InterActiveCorp, a Fortune 500 company, where his positions included Chief of Business Operations and General Counsel.

Chairman Genachowski's public service spanned broadly across government. His confirmation as FCC chairman returns him to the agency where, from 1994 until 1997, he served as chief counsel to FCC chairman Reed Hundt, and, before that, as special counsel to then-FCC general counsel (later chairman) William Kennard. Previously, he was a law clerk at the U.S. Supreme Court for Justice David Souter and Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. (ret.), and at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for Chief Judge Abner Mikva. He also worked in Congress for then-U.S. Representative (now Senator) Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), and on the staff of the House select committee investigating the Iran-Contra Affair.

Chairman Genachowski has been active at the intersection of social responsibility and the marketplace. He was part of the founding group of New Resource Bank, which specializes in serving the needs of green entrepreneurs and sustainable businesses, and has served on the Advisory Board of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2). He also served as a board member of Common Sense Media, a leading non-partisan, non-profit organization seeking to improve the media lives of children and families.

He received a J.D from Harvard Law School (magna cum laude), where he was co-notes editor of the Harvard Law Review. He received a B.A. from Columbia College (magna cum laude), where he was editor of Columbia Spectator's Broadway Magazine, re-established Columbia's oldest newspaper (Acta Columbiana), and was a writer and researcher for Fred Friendly.

Anna Gomez
Deputy Asst. Secretary for Communications and Information &
Deputy Administrator, NTIA

Anna Gomez joined the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in February, 2009. Previously, Ms. Gomez was vice president, government affairs at Sprint Nextel.

Prior to her work in private industry, Ms. Gomez served for 12 years in various management positions at the Federal Communications Commission, including deputy chief of the international bureau and chief of the network services division in the common carrier (now wireline) bureau. Ms. Gomez also served as the senior legal advisor to former FCC Chairman William Kennard. In addition, Ms. Gomez was deputy chief of staff in the National Economic Council during the Clinton Administration; staff counsel in the U.S. Senate for the Subcommittee on Communication, Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation; and an associate at the law firm of Arnold & Porter.

Ms. Gomez is a graduate of Pennsylvania State University and earned her J.D. from George Washington University. She is a member of the District of Columbia's Hispanic Bar Association and the Federal Communications Bar Association.

Jim Griffin
President, Choruss LCC &
Advisor to Warner Music Group

Jim Griffin is president of Choruss LLC and an advisor to Warner Music Group. In addition to serving as an agent for constructive change in media and technology, he is a columnist and is on the boards of a number of companies and associations.

Previously, he started and ran the technology department at Geffen Records. While at Geffen, he led a team that in June of 1994 distributed the first full-length commercial song online, by Aerosmith. Geffen was the first entertainment company to install a web server, and Geffen World was one of the first corporate intranet sites. Prior to Geffen, Mr. Griffin was an international representative for The Newspaper Guild in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Griffin regularly moderates video and television shows on digital entertainment. He is often a keynote speaker or moderator at conferences and lectures annually at business schools. He also serves as an expert witness in digital entertainment, and has presented many Continuing Legal Education courses. In addition to work with music, his expertise includes wireless work in Europe, including at Nokia's Research Center in Finland.

Matthew Growney
CEO,
Illume Software

Matthew Growney has become a well-known and successful investor for both his understanding of new technologies as well as his ability to build compelling new businesses for the commercial marketplace. In October 2007, he launched Rudyard Partners, a private equity firm, as an investment vehicle to create and deliver new consumer products and businesses to both mass market and specialized users alike. His areas of interest promote the creation of the most compelling user experience.

Whether on a device or a network, Mr. Growney explores technologies that implement or integrate content and software so that consumer expectations with new innovations can be surpassed. He is focused on the monetization of old and new media and its interace with various combinations of bits and atoms. Prior to starting Rudyard Partners, he was co-founder and managing director of Motorola Ventures (MV), the corporate venture capital arm of Motorola, Inc. He was directly responsible for building investment offices in Boston, Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv, and Beijing. He co-managed a $350M portfolio of 70+ companies.

He graduated from Michigan State University (BA), where he serves on the Board of the Center for Venture Capital, Private Equity and Entrepreneurial Finance at the Broad School of Business, and the New England School of Law (JD). He has also studied software at Harvard University and civil law with Loyola University- New Orleans in Costa Rica. He is fluent in French, speaks Japanese, and is learning Mandarin.

Together with his co-founders, Michael Riemer and Michael Costello, he has developed a patented software application to ensure safe and legal use of mobile phones while driving. Featured in national media including The Wall Street Journal, TIME Magazine, The Washington Post, FOX Business News, and The Associated Press Television News - ZoomSafer detects when you're driving and automatically applies safe-driving policies to help you focus on the road and be less distracted.

In August 2005, Mr. Howard co-founded SMBLive where he served as CEO until March 2009 and led the company's rapid evolution from start-up to innovative provider of online marketing software for small business owners. He previously served as vice president of business development and small business sales at Groove Networks (acquired by Microsoft in March 2005), and as vice president of marketing and business development at USinternetworking (acquired by AT&T).

Prior to USi, he spent eight years in marketing and sales positions with leading technology firms including WinStar Telecommunications and Booz Allen & Hamilton. Matt earned a certificate in innovation management at University of Maryland's Smith School of Business, a master's degree in telecommunications administration from George Mason University and a bachelor's degree in political communications from The George Washington University.

First elected to Congress in 2000, Darrell Issa currently serves as Ranking Member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and also serves on the House Judiciary Committee.

Representative Issa founded Directed Electronics, the Vista, California-based industry-leading manufacturer of automobile security and convenience products. Rep. Issa has served as chairman of the Consumer Electronics Association, served as a member of the Board of Governors of the Electronics Industry Association, and as director of the San Diego Economic Development Association and the Greater San Diego County Chamber of Commerce. In 1994, he received the Entrepreneur of the Year Award from Inc. Magazine, Ernst & Young and The San Diego Union-Tribune.

Rep. Issa is perhaps best known as the leader of the successful effort to recall former California Governor Gray Davis in 2003. In 1996, he also co-chaired the campaign to pass the California Civil Rights Initiative that ended racial and gender preferences and quotas in state contracting and college admissions.

He enlisted in the Army during his senior year in high school and attended college on an ROTC scholarship. In the Army, Rep. Issa served as a bomb disposal technician, tank platoon commander, computer R&D specialist, and attained the rank of Captain. He is a graduate of Siena Heights University in Adrian, Michigan and serves as a member of the University Board of Trustees.

Karen Jackson
Deputy Secretary of Technology,
Commonwealth of Virginia

Karen Jackson serves as the Deputy Secretary of Technology for the Commonwealth of Virginia. In this capacity, she serves as the senior advisor to the Kaine Administration on matters related to broadband and telework. Ms. Jackson is responsible for leading broadband and telework policy and legislative initiatives, as well as developing programs to faciliate deployment and adoption.

She served as senior staff to the Commowealth's Broadband Roundtable co-chaired by Aneesh Chopra and Senator Mark Warner and is credited with developing the Commonwealth's online broadband toolkit and first generation broadband service availability map. Prior to her appointment, she served as the director of the Commonwealth's Office of Telework Promotion and Broadband Assistance where she was responsible for promoting and encouraging telework alternatives in both the public and private sectors and advising the Secretary of Technology on broadband related issues.

Ms. Jackson has been actively engaged in the ARRA and National Broadband Plan related programs and events including: participating in the 2009 Philanthropy and Rural America Conference, representing the National Governor's Association on the NTIA proposed selection criteria panel and the FCC National Broadband Plan workshop on State and Local government best practices. Earlier this year, she received a 2009 IP3 award from Public Knowledge for her work in making information available to local governments about how to bring broadband to their areas, and for leading the Commonwealth's broadband mapping project using state resources to complete the task ahead of many other states.

Ms. Jackson serves on a number of Boards in the Commonwealth including the Virginia Telehealth Network and the Virginia Health IT Advisory Commission. She holds a bachelor's of science in business management at Christopher Newport University and a master's of business administration from The College of William and Mary.

Cecilia Kang (Moderator)
Staff Writer,
The Washington Post

Cecilia Kang is a technology reporter for The Washington Post, focusing on technology policy at the intersection of government, business and innovation. She's been on the beat for The Post for three years and writes for the paper and her blog, Post Tech.

Ms. Kang began her journalism career covering Wall Street and South Korean politics and economics for Dow Jones Newswires. Then she wrote about the dot-com boom and bust for The San Jose Mercury News.

Charlie Kelly
President,
Tomahawk Systems

Charlie Kelly is president of Tomahawk Systems. He has over 20 years of management experience, 15 of those working for Fortune 500 organizations. He also has a project management background that includes leading projects as large as 100,000 man hours.

Tomahawk Systems presented itself as a unique opportunity to invest in a technology that saves lives through a reduction in distracted driving, at a time when his children are approaching their teenage years. With four children, and a large extended family, that was an opportunity that was too significant to pass up.

Mr. Kelly received a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee and an MBA from Marquette University.

Carlos Kirjner
Senior Advisor to the Chairman,
Federal Communications Commission

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, Ms. 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, Ms. 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, Ms. 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 Bachelors of Arts in Philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1986.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy
Congressman,
U.S. House of Representatives

Congressman Kevin McCarthy was first elected to represent the 22nd District of California in the United States House of Representatives in November 2006, and has focused his work in Congress to represent his constituents from California's 22nd District in Congress. In November 2008, he was reelected to his second term.

For the 111th Congress, Republican Whip, Eric Cantor, appointed Rep. McCarthy to serve in the House Leadership as the Chief Deputy Republican Whip, the highest appointed position in the House Republican Conference. Congressman McCarthy also serves on the Financial Services Committee and was reappointed to the House Administration Committee.

Before his 21st birthday, Rep. McCarthy successfully opened and operated a small business, Kevin O's Deli. Owning a small business gave him important experience about the difficulties that entrepreneurs face from burdensome regulations and onerous taxes. After selling his business and finishing his undergraduate degree and Masters in Business Administration at California State University, Bakersfield, Rep. McCarthy worked for former Congressman Bill Thomas, and successfully won his first election in 2000 as Trustee to the Kern Community College District.

In 2002, he was elected to represent the 32nd Assembly District in the California State Assembly. As a freshman legislator, he was selected unanimously by his Republican colleagues to serve as the Assembly Republican Leader, becoming the first freshman legislator and the first legislator from Kern County to assume the top post. In this leadership role, he worked with the Governor and Democrat leaders in the state Assembly and Senate to address critical state issues, such as reducing California's budget deficit, overhauling the state worker's compensation system, and enhancing California's poor business climate to create more opportunities for California workers and businesses.

Declan McCullagh is a senior correspondent for CBSNews.com and a contributor to CNET News. An award-winning journalist, Mr. McCullagh writes and speaks frequently about technology, law and politics. From 1998 to 2002, he was the Washington bureau chief for Wired News.

Previously, he was a reporter for TIME magazine, Time Digital Daily and The Netly News, as well as correspondent for HotWired. His articles have appeared in publications including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times Magazine and the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and he has also appeared on National Public Radio's All Things Considered, ABC News' Good Morning America, NBC Evening News, Court TV and CNN.

He moderates Politech, a well-known mailing list looking broadly at politics and technology that he founded in 1994, and has been online since 1988. He was the first online reporter to join the National Press Club; he participated in the first White House dot com press pool; and was one of the first online journalists to receive credentials from the press gallery of the U.S. Congress.

Robert M. McDowell was first appointed to a seat on the Federal Communications Commission by President George W. Bush and unanimously confirmed by the Senate in 2006. When he was reappointed to the Commission on June 2, 2009, Commissioner McDowell became the first Republican to be appointed to an independent agency by President Barack Obama. He was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on June 25, 2009.

During his time at the FCC, Commissioner McDowell has worked to help consumers in the communications marketplace enjoy the benefits of more choices, lower prices and useful innovations through increased competition. Creating opportunities for the construction of new delivery platforms that will bring about such competition has been one of his top priorities.

Commissioner McDowell brings to the FCC approximately sixteen years of private sector experience in the communications industry. Immediately prior to joining the FCC, Commissioner McDowell was senior vice president for the Competitive Telecommunications Association (CompTel), an association representing competitive facilities-based telecommunications service providers and their supplier partners. There he had responsibilities involving advocacy efforts before Congress, the White House and executive agencies. He has served on the North American Numbering Council (NANC) and on the board of directors of North American Numbering Plan Billing and Collection, Inc. (NBANC).

Prior to joining CompTel in February 1999, McDowell served as the executive vice president and general counsel of America's Carriers Telecommunications Association (ACTA), which merged with CompTel at that time.

He graduated cum laude from Duke University in 1985. After serving as chief legislative aide to a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, he attended the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary. Upon his graduation from law school, McDowell joined the Washington, D.C., office of the national law firm of Arter & Hadden.

Andrew McLaughlin is Deputy U.S. Chief Technology Officer responsible for Internet and technology policy, including open government, cybersecurity, and building technology platforms for innovation in health, energy, and education. Previously, he served as director of global public policy for Google, taught at Harvard Law School, and worked on Internet and telecom law reform projects in a number of developing countries, including Ghana, Mongolia, Kenya, Afghanistan, and South Africa.

From 1999-2002, Mr. McLaughlin worked to launch and manage the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), serving as vice president, chief policy officer and chief financial officer. He has also been a senior fellow at Harvard Law School's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, and an attorney at Jenner & Block and counsel to the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee.

Craig Moffett
Vice President and Senior Analyst,
Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.

Craig Moffett joined Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. as the senior analyst for U.S. cable and satellite Broadcasting in 2002. Mr. Moffett was recently voted the No. 1 cable and satellite analyst in America in 2009 in Institutional Investor Magazine's All-American-Research poll, marking the fourth consecutive year he has earned that title. He added coverage of the U.S. telecommunications sector in 2007, and was voted Runner Up in that sector in Institutional Investor's 2008 and 2009 polls as well.

Mr. Moffett spent eleven years at The Boston Consulting Group, where as a partner and vice president he led the firm's global practice in Telecommunications. At BCG, he led client relationships spanning the local exchange, wireless, long distance, and equipment sectors in the U.S., Latin America, and Europe.

Most recently, Mr. Moffett was the president of SOTHEBYS.COM, the e-commerce venture of the venerable auction house, where he led a team of 300 people through the company's technology development phase and launch in early 2000, and he subsequently led SOTHEBYS.COM to the highest first-year sales of any consumer website ever launched. As a member of the executive committee of Sotheby's Holdings, Mr. Moffett was an instrumental member of the crisis-response team that steered the company through the challenges arising from anti-trust proceedings related to its pricing activity during the mid-1990s.

Mr. Moffett earned a bachelor's degree from Brown University in 1984, where he graduated phi beta kappa and magna cum laude. He earned an MBA with honors from the Harvard Business School in 1989.

Scott Moore
Vice President of Marketing,
Best Buy Mobile

Janice Obuchowski
Founder and President,
Freedom Technologies

Mrs. Obuchowski also serves or has served on several corporate Boards of Directors. She currently chairs public company Corporate Governance and Human Resources and Compensation Committees. Earlier in her career, Mrs. Obuchowski had responsibility for all international government affairs for NYNEX (now Verizon). Mrs. Obuchowski also held several positions at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), including senior advisor to the chairman.

Mrs. Obuchowski earned a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center where she was an editor of the Law Journal and a B.A. with honors from Wellesley College.

In his 18-year career, high-tech entrepreneur Michael Robertson has spearheaded a cache of diverse, high-profile companies ranging from digital music to operating systems to VoIP to entertainment.

Not one to shy from controversy, his quest to offer competing products and innovative technologies has brought him face to face with corporate giants - and corporate lawsuits. With companies like Linspire, SIPphone, and MP3tunes, Mr. Robertson has entered industries that traditionally had only one or two dominant players.

His high-profile startups include MP3.com, where he established the largest collection of digital music in the world, amassing more than 1 million downloadable MP3 files. Vivendi Universal purchased the profitable company in 2001 for $372 million in stock and cash.

He then founded Linspire, Inc., a company that produces an affordable, license-free desktop Linux operating system that quickly gained market share on Microsoft Windows. In 2003, he also founded SIPphone.com (renamed Gizmo5), a company that harnesses the power of the Internet to allow customers to make free long distance phone calls. In 2005, he reentered the MP3 business with MP3tunes, a Music Service Provider.

Prior to establishing MP3.com as a major portal of music distribution, he operated several web sites from 1995 to March 1998 that focused on merging search technologies with commerce. He received his bachelor of arts degree in cognitive science from the University of California, San Diego in 1990.

Amy Schatz (Moderator)
Reporter,
The Wall Street Journal

Gary Shapiro
President and CEO,
Consumer Electronics Association

Gary Shapiro is president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the U.S. trade association representing some 2,200 consumer electronics companies and owning and producing the world's largest tradeshow for consumer technology, the International CES.

Mr. Shapiro is an active leader in the development, launch and marketing of HDTV. He co-founded and chaired the HDTV Model Station and has served as a leader of the Advanced Television Test Center (ATTC). He is a charter inductee to the Academy of Digital Television Pioneers and, as chairman of the Home Recording Rights Coalition (HRRC), Mr. Shapiro has led the manufacturers' legal and legislative battle to preserve the legality of recording technology and the consumer battle to protect fair use rights.

He has held many exhibition industry leadership posts. He also serves on the Board of Visitors of George Mason University, Virginia's largest university, and is a member of the board of directors of the Northern Virginia Technology Council. He also served as a member of the Commonwealth of Virginia's Commission on Information Technology.

Prior to joining CEA, he was an associate at the law firm of Squire, Sanders and Dempsey. He also has worked on Capitol Hill as an assistant to a member of Congress. He received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate with a double major in economics and psychology from the State University of New York, Binghamton.

Hank Shocklee
Music Producer, Founder of Public Enemy and President,
Shocklee Entertainment

A worldwide role model for pushing the envelope and breaking new artistic boundaries, Hank Shocklee is looked upon as the leader of the pack. Whether via his production legacy, which continuously ranks at the top of the 'best of' lists, or throughout the academic circuit, his ideologies and techniques are studied amongst a wide cross section of people that include music fans, aspiring artists, audio technology developers, universities and media policy makers.

As a DJ, producer, composer and record company executive, Mr. Shocklee has managed to work with and develop a large variety of artists and musicians across many genres all while keeping a very innovative approach and a distinction for high quality productions. He has been a force behind some of the most significant music and film projects of the last two decades including Public Enemy, Ice Cube, Mary J. Blige, LL Cool J, Slick Rick, Anthony Hamilton, Ridley Scott's American Gangster, Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing, Ernest Dickerson's Juice and countless others.

Currently, he is developing a series of projects which he calls the Future Frequency. He also continues to contribute his productions to various outside projects such as the upcoming feature film Soul Men and remixes for labels such as Astralwerks, Daptone, Motown and concord.

As president of his new media company Shocklee Entertainment and of the online creative network Shocklee.com, he produces and collaborates on events and initiatives such as the Shocklee Innertainment Panel Series for Remix Magazine, The Art of Record Production Conference, The Ladies On The Mic network for Women in Entertainment, The Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music at NYU and The Red Bull Music Academy.

Mr. Shocklee has garnered a collection of Platinum and Multi-Platinum albums as well as 15 Grammy Nominations and numerous Soul Train Awards. He has also been the recipient of a Sony Innovators Award and an Apex Creative Engineer Award. He has also been named the Source Magazine's Producer of the year twice during his career.

Gigi Sohn
President and Co-Founder,
Public Knowledge

Gigi Sohn is an internationally known communications attorney. As co-founder and president of Public Knowledge, she serves as the organization's chief strategist, fundraiser and public face.

She is also a senior adjunct fellow at the Silicon Flatirons Center for Law, Technology and Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado and a senior fellow at the University of Melbourne Faculty of Law, Graduate Studies Program in Australia. She has been a non-resident fellow at the University of Southern California Annenberg Center, and an ajunct professor at Georgetown University and at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University.

In 1997, President Clinton appointed Ms. Sohn to serve as a member of his Advisory Committee on the Public Interest Obligations of Digital Television Broadcasters. In May 2006, the Electronic Frontier Foundation gave her its Internet "Pioneer" Award. She currently serves on the board of the Telecommunications Policy Research Conference and Broadcasters' Child Development Center. She is also a member of the advisory board of the Future of Music Coalition and the Center for Public Integrity's "Well Connected" Telecommunications Project.

She holds a B.S. in Broadcasting and Film, Summa Cum Laude, from the Boston University College of Communication and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Mr. Van Meter has more than fifteen years of engineering and leadership experience. He started his career as a conservation engineer with a small Florida utility where he gained a deep appreciation for the environment. Prior to forming United Efficiency, he spent the majority of his career developing and deploying post 9-11 advanced aviation security solutions at our nation's top airports.

In 2008, Mr. von Lohmann was named one of the 50 leading intellectual property lawyers in California by the Daily Journal, a leading legal newspaper, which also honored him as among the 100 most influential lawyers in California from 2004-08. He also received the prestigious 2008 IP3 award for intellectual property from Public Knowledge. He has also been recognized as a Northern California "SuperLawyer" for 2008 and received a 2003 CLAY (California Lawyer of the Year) award from California Lawyer magazine.

He has appeared on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, CNN, CNBC, ABC's Good Morning America, Fox News' O'Reilly Factor, C-SPAN, and TechTV's ScreenSavers and has been widely quoted in a variety of publications, including in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Billboard, US News & World Report, CNET News, Wired News, TIME magazine and a number of leading legal newspapers. His opinion pieces have appeared in the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and San Jose Mercury News.

Steve Wildstrom (Moderator)
Technology Journalist

Steve Wildstrom created BusinessWeek's "Technology & You" column in 1994. The goal of the column, which appeared weekly with regular supplements at BusinessWeek Online, was to help readers understand and use personal technology to enhance their jobs and their lives.

Before starting "Technology & You," Mr. Wildstrom served as senior news editor in BusinessWeek's Washington bureau and edited the Washington Outlook column. Since joining the magazine in 1972, he has served in variety of capacities, covering politics, economics and labor in Washington and Detroit and was also deeply involved in the computerization of editorial operations in the 1980s.

He also has deep interests in education and the arts. He is a founding board member of the Children's Chorus of Washington, and has served as a member of local arrangements committee and as the volunteer publicity director for the International Math Olympiad 2001.

TPS @ CES

TPS 2009

TPS: Broadband Innovation

Our Twitter Feed

TPS 2009 Sponsors

TPS 2009 Speakers

Speakers