President-elect Joe Biden announces his senior staff includes Director, White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs Julie Rodriguez, ex-deputy campaign manager, Biden-Kamala Harris campaign ... Bill Barloon, who recently left Sprint after it was bought by T-Mobile, starts lobbying firm Barloon.co; he will initially focus on tech, telecom, copyright and electronic commerce, he tells us ... Air Force moves Brig. Gen. Douglas Schiess to director-space and cyber operations, Space Force Space Operations Command.
Nokia hires Mimi Strobel from office of Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., as senior director-policy and government relations ... Waymo hires as chief safety officer Mauricio Pena from Virgin Orbit ... Motion Picture Association Chairman-CEO Charles Rivkin’s contract "renewed for another three years, starting Jan. 1."
NAB hires Tea Gennaro, ex-Associated Builders and Contractors, as executive vice president-chief financial officer, taking over from CFO Trish Johnson, "who recently transitioned to a consultancy role" ... Patent and Trademark Office appoints David Berdan, ex-Gaming Arts, general counsel ... Ogilvy Government Relations promotes Alissa Clees to principal, with clients including RIAA and Verizon; she "manages the firm’s social media initiatives" and is on the board of Jenkins Hill Society, a female fundraising group supporting Democratic women in Congress.
Microsoft Innovation & Policy Center in Washington, D.C., promotes Kinney Zalesne to U.S. Government Affairs team as general manager-responsible growth strategy; hires Mariah Sixkiller from Sixkiller Consulting for U.S. Government Affairs team as director-government relations, reporting to Zalesne; and Danyelle Solomon joins same team from Center for American Progress as director-justice reform and racial equity policy; software maker separately hires Christopher Young from McAfee as executive vice president-business development, reporting directly to CEO Satya Nadella.
Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Executive Director John Fowler retiring, effective Jan. 2 ... Amazon hires Lizzy Simmons from National Retail Federation as manager-public policy ... SAIC appoints Prabu Natarajan, ex-Northrop Grumman, as executive vice president-chief financial officer, effective Jan. 4, succeeding Charlie Mathis, retiring.
Facebook hires from TechFreedom Ashkhen Kazaryan as policy manager-content regulation ... Crown Castle promotes Chris Levendos to lead small cells and fiber solutions as executive vice president-chief operating officer, fiber, effective Dec. 1; he succeeds James Young, who's retiring and remaining with company through February, as planned (see this section, Aug. 17).
Microchip Technology names President-Chief Operating Officer Ganesh Moorthy to succeed Steve Sanghi as CEO, effective March 1, as Sanghi transitions to executive chairman; Moorthy also joins Microchip board ... Reddit promotes Roxy Young to be its first chief marketing officer and Nellie Peshkov to chief people officer, also a new post ... Zuora adds Valerie Jackson, ex-Procore Technologies, as the company’s first chief diversity officer, reporting to co-founder and CEO Tien Tzuo ... Skydio recent hires include Roy Goldman, ex-Carbon and Tesla, as head-product management, and Ryan Reading from Samsara for head-software engineering ... Cubic taps David Whelan, ex-Boeing, for senior vice president-chief scientist.
Recording Academy moves up Kelley Purcell to vice president-membership and industry relations ... In Alaska Communications Systems' planned sale to an affiliate of Macquarie Capital and GCM Grosvenor, ACS spokesperson tells us the plan is to keep employees and executives; they include President-CEO Bill Bishop, Chief Financial Officer Laurie Butcher, Senior Vice President-Legal, Regulatory and Government Affairs Leonard Steinberg and Senior Vice President-Operations and People Matters Diedre Williams; the cash deal, worth about $300 million, would take the telco private and is expected to close in 2021's second half (see 2011050054).
Brownstein Hyatt hires Venable alumnus Mark Pryor, ex-senator (D) and Arkansas attorney general, as shareholder, Government Relations Department, working with State Attorneys General and Congressional Investigations groups and federal government relations practice ... ViacomCBS says Laura Franco, executive vice president-general counsel for the CBS-branded businesses, moves to become a consultant to the company through Dec. 1 ... FirstNet promotes Richard Reed to deputy chief-network technology and operations.
Baller Stokes says its Jim Baller, Sean Stokes and Casey Lide join Keller and Heckman as partners, Keller and Heckman says they join telecom practice; Lide tells us that rather than being a combination of the firms, Baller Stokes "is being wound down" ... Teradata board moves Molly Treese to chief legal officer, succeeding Laura Nyquist, retiring; Erica Hausheer, ex-3D Systems, named chief information officer.