Telecom veterans join Obama transition team

Two former telecom officials from the Clinton administration were named to the transition team of President-elect Barack Obama, another possible signal that telecom and high-tech issues could have high-level visibility when executive branch power shifts to Democrats in January.
Among those serving on the transition team’s advisory board – comprised of individuals from the public and private sectors – are Julius Genachowski and Donald Gips.
Genachowski, a Harvard Law School classmate of Obama, was former chief counsel to former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Reed Hundt. Genachowski also is special adviser to Greenwich, Conn.-based General Atlantic, a private equity investment firm. In addition, he is managing director of Rock Creek Ventures, a venture-capital firm.
Genachowski, who also serves on the boards of various high-tech companies, was a senior member of the Obama campaign’s tech-telecom policy team.
Gips is group VP for corporate strategy and development at Level 3 Communications, an international company headquartered in Broomfield, Colo., that operates one of the largest communications and Internet backbones in the world. Gips specialized in domestic and international technology and telecom issues as chief domestic policy advisor to former VP Al Gore. Gips also served as chief of the FCC’s International Bureau and as an executive manager at international management consulting firm McKinsey Co.
Multichannel News, citing informed sources, reported former Democratic FCC commissioner Henry Rivera will focus on the telecom agency and its issues as part of the Obama transition. Rivera, who works at the same law firm that once employed FCC Chairman Kevin Martin, and the Obama transition team did not return calls for comment.
According to a source familiar with the situation, Rivera likely would not play a major role in decisions about staffing the FCC with a new chairman and bureau chiefs. Those decisions are apt to be made at a later date by Obama advisors focusing on personnel. With the economy in tatters and the biggest issue for voters in the presidential election, Obama’s first cabinet appointment could be treasury secretary.