FCC Chairman Ajit Pai appoints Babette Boliek, Pepperdine University law school professor and associate dean-faculty research who will take a leave from there while she's at the commission, as agency's chief economist, succeeding Jerry Ellig, returning to academia, now as research professor at George Washington University, affiliated with Regulatory Studies Center; also Monday, Pai names to Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment: current ACDDE Vice Chair Diane Sutter, ShootingStar Broadcasting, to chair, succeeding Julia Johnson, NetCommunications, who resigns from committee; Anna Gomez, member of Digital Empowerment and Inclusion Working Group, from Wiley Rein, as vice chair-member of the full committee; and Susan Au Allen, member of the empowerment and inclusion group from U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce, as full member, ACDDE.
MPAA promotions to senior vice presidents: Neil Fried for congressional and regulatory policy, and senior counsel-federal advocacy and strategic planning; Patrick Kilcur for federal affairs; and Greg Saphier for external affairs ...Disney and Hearst move up Paul Buccieri to president-A+E Networks Group after he was president-A+E Studios and A+E Networks Portfolio Group.
Nielsen CEO-board member Mitch Barns retiring at year's end, and until then continues running company and "key initiatives -- Total Audience, the Connected System and the efforts to automate and streamline operations"; Chairman James Attwood, Carlyle Group managing director, is named executive chairman and "will assume a more active role" and lead "the search for new leadership" ... At Verizon's Oath, Verizon Digital Media Services hires from Fox Network Groups Ariff Sidi as chief product officer ... Vonage taps Sanjay Macwan, ex-NBCUniversal Media Labs, as senior vice president-enterprise engineering and networks.
Entravision promotes Adam Lichtiger to senior vice president-sales in Washington, D.C. ... NCC Media, national advertising/technology company owned by Comcast, Charter Communications and Cox Communications, hires from Rakuten's Slice Technologies Bob Ivins as chief data officer, new post ... Brand Safety Institute cofounded by Neal Thurman, Coalition for Better Advertising director, as well as by Trustworthy Accountability Group CEO Mike Zaneis ... Extreme Reach adds Bunker Sessions, who has been consulting for it, as vice president of sell-side solutions.
Charter Communications says it hires Mark Balsano, ex-AT&T, as vice president-accessibility, and separately says that John Malone retires from the board and becomes director emeritus and Liberty Broadband nominee elected to the Charter board is Jim Meyer, SiriusXM CEO ... NBC Sports Group names Pete Bevacqua, who led PGA of America, to newly created position of president, effective in September ... Entercom appoints Stephanie Perl, ex-Tribune Broadcasting, senior vice president-market manager, Entercom Hartford, effective Aug. 6.
Neustar directors hire Providence Equity Partners veteran Charles Gottdiener as president-CEO, succeeding Lisa Hook, who remains on the board ... USTelecom hires from Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee Brian Weiss as vice president-media affairs, succeeding Amy Schatz, previously hired by Glen Echo Group (see 1801080047) ... Bank of America Merrill Lynch hires from UBS Sam Powers as head-Americas media and telecom investment banking, effective in fall, and from Deutsche Bank Randy Russell as managing director for those industries.
Arizona Corporation Commission members unanimously tap Matt Neubert, most recently director of ACC Securities Division, as interim executive director; commissioners agree to discuss "a recruitment plan for a permanent" chief at next month’s staff meeting (see 1807170018), agency says; Ted Vogt resigned earlier this month over a possible conflict of interest (see 1807100036) ... Equifax moves Paulino do Rego Barros, most recently the company's interim CEO, to president-U.S. Information Solutions, succeeding Trey Loughran, leaving the company to pursue a new opportunity; parent company's current CEO is Mark Begor.
Information Technology Industry Council hires from Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.'s, office Sarah Shive, also ex-office of then-Sen. John Rockefeller, D-W.Va., to lead ITI U.S. tax policy outreach to Congress; Jennifer McCloskey, ex-aide to Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., returns to the group, where she will work on global tax issues ... BMI hires Alex Flores, ex-BMG, as senior vice president-creative, effective Aug. 6 ... Discovery extends contract of President-CEO David Zaslav until Dec. 31, 2023.
Texas Instruments says Brian Crutcher has resigned as president-CEO and board member, and named Rich Templeton again to be president-CEO, and he remains chairman; Crutcher allegedly violated the company's code of conduct in his personal behavior ... Molex CEO Martin Slark retires in November, when Chief Operating Officer Joe Nelligan advances to CEO ... Ericsson advances Jan Karlsson to senior vice president/head-Business Area Digital Services, effective Aug. 1, when he joins the executive team; he has been doing the job on an interim basis.
DLA Piper hires Peter Shroyer, ex-FCC Wireline Bureau Telecom Access Policy Division, as associate, Telecom practice, and from McDermott Will Eric Hagen as partner, Intellectual Property and Technology practice ... Marvin Ammori, ex-Virgin Hyperloop One, joins as general counsel open-source data firm Protocol Labs ... ASCAP promotes to the new post of deputy general counsel Gregory Morgado ... BGR Group hires as digital director, a new position: Liz Fontaine, ex-McCain Institute and Center for a New American Security.