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An Award-Winning Week
What do Microsoft and Vice President Al Gore have in common? Aside from monopolizing media coverage, they will have had Ginny Terzano working on their respective teams. Terzano, who at one time served as Gore's press secretary, has been pegged the strategic communications manager, a newly created position, for the software giant's DC office. "As the office grows and as people in DC get more involved the need for the position arose," Rick Miller, a company spokesman, said. "We have been looking for a while, and Ginny is the perfect match for the job." Terzano is expected to start at the beginning of the month. Bringing with her years of communication experience, Terzano served as deputy press secretary to President Clinton from 1994-96 and currently is the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s liaison.
A new government information portal has employed some major former public figures such as 1996 Republican vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp and ex-Gov. Zell Miller, D-GA, to help the company get its Web site off the ground.
Ezgov.com formally launched its Web site Tuesday promising users free access to every local, state and federal Web site around the country. It also offers the ability to conduct some government transactions online, such as paying traffic tickets for those jurisdictions that offer such services on the Internet. The company is trying to establish partnerships with state and local agencies to help them set up a Web site or increase their online services.
The group has recruited some heavy hitters to sit on its board of directors. In addition to Miller and Kemp, they include former Rep. William Gray III, D-PA, and former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, D. Ezgov.com's advisory board includes former Republican National Committee Chairman Haley Barbour and Sam Nunn, former Democrat senator from Georgia. The advisory board has been established to provide ezgov.com business contacts, marketing support, technical expertise and other services.
During a news conference, Kemp, a former Republican U.S. House member representing New York and secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Bush Administration, said he joined the new online venture because he saw it as a way to "empower people."
Miller said the site would not only be beneficial for consumers but also help local, state and government officials provide better services to their constituents.
"I've never met a public official who wanted to stay in public office for long who didn't want to improve services, and I've never met a constituent who didn't want their services improved," Miller said.
Texas is the place to be this week with representatives from both the House Republican Conference and the Democratic Leadership Council meeting with the state's top tech companies and interest groups. With the help of the Technology Network, HRC Chairman J.C. Watts, OK, along with Kay Granger, TX, visited a couple of technology companies in Austin Monday, including Dell Computers. "I have wanted to take on an effort to kind of make sure our members understand what's going on in the information technology arena," said Watts. "I want to make sure our members understand it and not just try to drive this arena by litigation and regulation and taxation." Promoting his mission of education, Watts, who visited Silicon Valley in May, said that he plans to schedule similar trips every quarter. On the other side of the aisle, the DLC is holding a daylong conference on Nov. 20 to encourage state and national leaders and technology executives to discuss the impact of globalization and the new economy on Texas. Rep. Cal Dooley, D-CA, will keynote a dinner for high-tech execs Friday night. Also attending the conference are Sen. John Edwards, D-NC, Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-CA, Tom Meredith, senior vice president and chief financial officer of Dell Computer, and Rob Atkinson, director of the Technology & New Economy Project at the Progressive Policy Institute. Among the event's co-sponsors are Dell Computer and Technology Network Texas.
After a brief tenure with the Commerce Department's Bureau of Export Administration, Marlene MacDonald has made her exit. MacDonald had not been with BXA for two months before she decided to trade in her government gig to be the communications manager for America Online's Latin America division. "I think it was one of those things where the opportunity just opened up," said Rosemary Warren, director of congressional and public affairs at the BXA. "It was timely. It was spontaneous...It was such a good position that she just had to do it. I would have to do it." BXA is looking for a replacement.
In Senate nomination news, Chairman of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation Sen. John McCain, R-AZ, announced Friday the approval of eight nominations. Among those that have a key role in the tech realm are: Thomas Leary as a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission — and in the Commerce Department, Greg Rohde as assistant secretary of commerce for communication and information, Cheryl Shavers to be undersecretary of commerce for technology and Kelly H. Carnes as assistant secretary of commerce for technology policy.
You could call them Lady and the Champ, but the lady is a champ as well. Commerce Secretary William Daley and U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky received the Cyber Champion Award last Tuesday from the Business Software Alliance at a ceremony held at Marriott Metro Center Hotel in DC.
Daley and Barshefsky were honored specifically for their diligence in executing the President’s Executive Order on Computer Software Piracy, promoting and implementing the use of legal software by government agencies and contractors in the United States.
"Governments are typically the single largest purchasers of computer-related services and equipment, which means that their software management policies have a powerful impact on the health of the industry and, just as importantly, set a high-profile example for the private sector," said Robert Holleyman, president and CEO of the Business Software Alliance.
Also at the ceremony was Colleen Pouliot, chairman of the BSA board of directors and senior vice president and general counsel at Adobe Systems.
Daley was double-crowned last week. He also received the Privacy Award from Privacy and American Business.
"I am honored to be the recipient of these awards," Daley said. "I want to thank the industry for their recent initiatives and let them know I appreciate working with them in developing effective on-line privacy protections and making it possible that the trillion dollar e-conomy we talk about will truly take place."
The digital divide has found another champion in U S West Chairman Solomon Trujillo, who was presented with an award by President Clinton last Wednesday. Following in the footsteps of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Trujillo was presented the Ronald H. Brown Foundation Corporate Bridge Builder Award. The award, which was named after the late Commerce secretary, was created to celebrate leaders who carry on Brown's work and message of equal opportunity for all people. Highly esteemed for his ongoing efforts to bridge the digital divide, Trujillo created a program called Project: Connect, which trains inner-city black youths for high-tech jobs at U S West. In addition to the endless list of efforts to provide opportunities for women, Hispanics, African Americans, and American Indians, and his responsibilities at U S West, Trujillo is governor of the World Economic Forum for the information technology industry and is a member of the National Security Telecommunications Council.
Gloria Dittus, president and CEO of the PR firm formerly known as The Dittus Group has been named "PR Woman of the Year." Washington Women in PR (WWPR) President Elizabeth Chester presented the award, which is in its 10th year, at one of the organization's luncheons at the Hotel Washington in DC. After receiving the award, Dittus officially announced the 6-year-old company's new identity: Dittus Communications Inc. Maturing from a one-person operation to a fully staffed PR and issue advocacy agency, the firm thought it was time to change its name to better reflect its services. The name change was motivated by Dittus' increased contact with the DC area's high-tech community — Dittus is associated with the Northern Virginia Technology Council, CAPNet, and the Netpreneur Program. Dittus' clients include Network Solutions Inc., GOPnet.com and The EcomForum. Dittus is currently developing a new Web site. Also, former Dittus Director Kristin Litterst has been promoted to senior director, and will continue to handle programs for clients such as the Business Software Alliance, Americans for Computer Privacy and GOPnet. Other appointments include Shelton Jones as director, Alice Slater, associate director, and Alison Cool, account executive.
After interning for then-Senator Al Gore, serving as a legislative aide to Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-NY, clerking for two federal judges and most recently working as an associate for DC law firm Hogan & Hartson, attorney Matthew A. Lamberti is back in familiar territory. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-CA, appointed Lamberti Democratic counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee's Technology, Terrorism and Government Information Subcommittee.
Internet specialist Robb Watters is leaving the public relations firm Ruder Finn to join Jefferson Government Relations, a Washington lobbying firm. Watters will become a vice president at the 22-person firm. As vice president for government relations at Ruder Finn, Watters represented such clients as icanbuy.com, a kids-oriented e-commerce site, and alladvantage.com, a get-paid-to-surf site. He told National Journal's Technology Daily that he expects to announce the signing of three major e-commerce clients early next year. Watters had been at Ruder Finn for the last year and a half. Before that, he was a senior policy adviser to then-Rep. Frank Riggs, R-CA. Prior to the stint with Riggs, Watters served as deputy chief of staff to then-Rep. Mark Neumann, R-WI. "This is a very positive development," said Art Roberts, a principal at Jefferson Government Relations. "Robb brings a great talent and youthful exuberance. He brings in clients in the e-commerce area that we don't currently serve." Jefferson and Ruder Finn are discussing terms of a possible strategic alliance focusing on high-tech clients, a source familiar with the negotiations said.
Times are changing in this modern world and so will Brian Conklin's focus as he leaves his post as acting president of the Financial Services Council. The 12-year-old Council is an organization of insurance companies and security firms whose main objective is the modernization of the financial services industry. With Congress in the process of revamping obsolete financial services laws, Conklin has set his sights on another vehicle for his modernization message. Joining the lobbying firm Washington Counsel, Conklin will broaden his focus to include privacy and e-commerce matters.
The DC office of Atlanta-based law firm Alston & Bird has a confessed cybercop on the premises. Jonathan Winer is busting out of the State Department's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs to Alston & Bird where he will be partner in the firm’s Financial Services Practice Group. For the past five years Winer has made it his mission to keep on the trail of international high-tech criminals and intellectual property thieves and will continue to do so focusing on e-commerce, financial regulatory and crime issues, and international banking crime. Prior to the State Department, he spent nearly five years as chief counsel to Sen. John F. Kerry, D-MA, and also led investigations into the Iran-Contra affair, among other high-profile cases.
The marriage of education and technology will be a challenge of the millennium for the Education Department’s chief information officer, Craig Luigart. Appointed CIO in September, Luigart has been handed the task of mentoring and streamlining the IT department. But in addition to that he came into office right in time to take on a task of Herculean proportions: the Y2K computer bug.
"It’s going well… We think we will be in pretty good shape," he said about the department’s Y2K readiness. However, Luigart remains concerned about the 2 percent of schools that are struggling with preparing for the glitch.
Luigart oversees in-house Y2K remediation as well as reporting back to President’s Y2K Task Force on the status of education facilities across the nation. But looking beyond the Year 2000, Luigart is working with Linda Roberts, the head of the educational technology advisory department to look into the future synthesis of education and technology.
"A few years from now the model of education will be drastically different," he said. "In the very near future we will have real virtual reality capable computers in the hands of the majority of children. The ability to use Internet access to change the way we teach will be profound."
Luigart provided the example of using virtual reality to perform certain medical procedures so that "you can have 20-year-old young adult who has had 2,000 practice runs at open heart surgery before he ever gets to medical school."
But Luigart maintained that technology isn't everything.
"Technology is not the issue. It’s the cultural understanding of what can be that is the greater issue — getting the issue across."
Commercial Internet Exchange’s Public Policy Director responds to an item included in the October 26, 1999 People column.
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