Fletcher Heald elects litigator Thomas Urban a member, a promotion ... Ex-FCC aide to then-Chairman Ajit Pai Nicholas Degani now is principal at Reticulated Strategies, doing “strategic consulting on all things tech” ... Cox Enterprises promotes Deborah Lucy to vice president-associate general counsel, corporate law ... Former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D), confirmed 50-49 by U.S. Senate as secretary, Health and Human Services Department; Becerra names his former agency’s Matt Rodriquez as chief deputy attorney general, leading California DOJ as acting attorney general.
Bitcoin company Cipher Mining Technologies names Tower Research Capital’s William Iwaschuk chief legal officer ... E.W. Scripps names consultant to media organizations Kate O’Brian as head-news, national television networks business, effective April 12, newly created role (see this section, March 17) ... Equifax expands role of Julia Houston as chief strategy and marketing officer to include leadership of global marketing ... Best Buy Chief Strategy Officer Whit Alexander steps down, stays in “advisory capacity” through June 1 ... Backblaze taps Mark Potter, ex-NewWave Telecom and Technologies, as chief information security officer.
Open Markets Institute hires include LaRonda Peterson, ex-Rand, as managing editor and Brian Callaci, ex-Data & Society, as chief economist ... Senate confirms Isabella Casillas Guzman 81-17 for administrator, Small Business Administration ... Nominations sent to Senate for the following to be general counsels: Christopher Fonzone at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, as Jason Klitenic had resigned; Janie Simms Hipp, Department of Agriculture, a job that Stephen Vaden did before becoming Court of International Trade judge; and Leslie Kiernan, Department of Commerce, filling spot previously held by Peter Davidson.
Davis Wright hires former Counsel-Appellate Litigation, FCC Office of General Counsel Thaila Sundaresan for partner, technology and communications practice ... Department of Agriculture announces Edyael Casaperalta, ex-Amerind, is senior policy adviser, Rural Utilities Service ... Commissioner Shelly Botkin resigns from Texas Public Utility Commission ... Research firm ndp | analytics taps Cato Institute’s Daniel Ikenson as director-policy research ... AI contracting platform LinkSquares appoints Tim Parilla, ex-DraftKings, as chief legal officer, and adds Aternity CEO Bill Hewitt to its board.
Telecom, media and technology consultant Altman Solon hires ex-AT&T FirstNet Chief Operating Officer Robert Sloan as senior adviser and promotes media and digital expert Florian Rapp to director ... Reddit adds Americans for Prosperity's Billy Easley as U.S. policy manager, leading policy and government relations ... Sesame Workshop promotes Wanda Witherspoon to chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, new position ... Blockchain.com taps its adviser Lane Kasselman, who has been partner at The Messina Group, as its first chief business officer; the cryptocurrency firm's board also adds Messina Group CEO Jim Messina.
Robin Colwell, ex-National Economic Council, ex-FCC and principal of Convergence Strategies, named of counsel to BGR Group ... DoorDash hires Keith Fernandez from TechNet as senior manager-social impact communications ... Cybersecurity Association of Maryland hires nonprofits veteran Tasha Cornish as executive director ... American Tower adds from Nokia Sanjay Goel as executive vice president and president, Asia-Pacific, succeeding Amit Sharma, who as previously planned becomes chairman-Asia-Pacific region and special adviser to CEO Tom Bartlett until Sharma retires July 1.
Association of American Publishers hires Terrence Hart from Copyright Office as general counsel ... Eric Feldman, ex-chief of staff to Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., joins Airbnb as head-federal and international affairs ...Stripe hires Katherine Mooney Carroll from Cleary Gottlieb as global head-policy ... Best Buy hires Janelle McClure from the office of Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, as associate director-government affairs in its Washington office, responsible for advocacy on social justice issues.
President Joe Biden picks Clare Martorana for federal chief information officer and administrator, OMB Office of Electronic Government; she most recently was chief information officer, Office of Personnel Management ... Comcast Advertising hires Pooja Midha from true[X], also former ABC Television Network, as chief growth officer ... Univision appoints Beatriz Pedrosa-Guanche, ex-Apple, as senior vice president-corporate communications; Chief Communications Officer Rosemary Mercedes resigning.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) reappoints Chairperson Rebecca Cameron Valcq for another two-year term as chairperson and commissioner, Public Service Commission, and taps Tyler Huebner for six-year term as PSC commissioner; Valcq’s six-year term as commissioner ends in 2025 and Evers named Huebner in March 2020 for rest of term of former Commissioner Michael Huebsch, who retired in February 2020; Valcq doesn't need Senate OK for chairperson slot and Huebner needs Senate nod for his six-year term and "can perform his duties before confirmation," PSC spokesperson emailed us.
Venable hires Yardly Pollas-Kimble, who has been chief of staff to Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., as partner, Legislative and Government Affairs Practice ... Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, hires Lee Lonsberry of KSL NewsRadio as communications director, effective in early April ... Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) names Arthur D'Andrea as chair, Public Utility Commission; D’Andrea was appointed to the PUC in 2017 for a term ending Sept. 1, 2023; he replaces Chairman DeAnn Walker, who resigned after power outages during a massive winter storm (see here) ... Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) appoints Keith Kurber, ex-Harvest Church pastor, to Regulatory Commission of Alaska for six-year term, a job needing legislative OK, replacing Commissioner Stephen McAlpine, term just ended.