WASHINGTON-Major reshuffling at the Federal Communications Commission last week has Dan Phythyon succeeding Michele Farquhar next month as chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission and special counsel Peter Cowhey replacing Don Gips as chief of the International Bureau.
Phythyon, currently deputy chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, held previous management posts at the FCC in the wireless bureau, the Common Carrier Bureau and the Office of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs. He also served as a lobbyist for the National Association of Broadcasters, drawing on his stint as GOP majority staff counsel to the Senate Commerce subcommittee on communications.
It’s unclear, however, whether Phythyon has given Hundt a long-term commitment.
Farquhar, who left the No. 2 job at the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to join the FCC in November 1995, gave Hundt about a year’s commitment but stayed longer at the chairman’s urging.
During her stint, Farquhar, widely known for her driven work ethic, compiled an impressive record of accomplishments ranging from telecom reform implementation to revamping private wireless licensing to advancing market-driven spectrum policy.
Farquhar’s bureau had far more FCC open-meeting agenda items (18) than any other bureau between December 1995 and February 1997. And the bureau was second only to the Mass Media Bureau in circulation rulings (135).
“I’ve enjoyed the job very much,” said Farquhar.
But she acknowledged the job was stressful and took a toll on her family.
Farquhar praised her staff, saying, “People don’t realize how hard people (at the FCC) work,” she said.
Farquhar, siting financial, family and professional factors, said she intends to enter the private sector.
Gips is making the biggest jump, becoming Vice President Gore’s domestic policy adviser. Gips succeeds Greg Simon, who is starting a high-tech consulting alliance with Podesta Associates Inc.
Cowhey, who replaces Gips, currently is senior counsel for economic and competition policy in the International Bureau.
