The Business Software Alliance has some new staff on board. The BSA has hired Joe Keeley as public policy manager. Keeley's experience includes seven years on the Hill and recently had been legislative counsel on telecom, technology and the environment for Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-AK. "It was time to do something else," Keeley said. He will be working on encryption, critical infrastructure protection, trade and copyright issues. BSA also hired Lauren Choi to handle international issues and Patrick Mellody to take on press relations. Mellody comes to the job from the National Aeronautics Space Administration, where he was press relations manager. Prior to NASA, Mellody worked at the State Department and in communications for President Clinton's reelection campaign. BSA's new staff will get ready for the organization's CEO forum, which begins next month. Top executives from member companies such as Adobe Systems CEO John Warnock, Autodesk CEO Carol Bartz, Intel Chairman Andy Grove, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, Novell Chairman Eric Schmidt, Walker Digital Chairman Jay Walker, among others will all be in town to visit with staff and leadership on the Hill.

     Dan Horowitz, former Net administrator and Web master for House Whip Tom DeLay, R-TX, has left the Hill to become a legislative manager for the Digital Media Association (DiMA). DiMA is playing a more active role on the Hill, as intellectual property issues related to webcasting and digital music heat up in the courts and in Washington, DC.

     The webmasters for former presidential candidates Bill Bradley and John McCain are joining together to market their services to the non-partisan public policy world. Max Fose, who worked for McCain and started Integrated Web Strategy, Lynn Reed, who worked for Bradley and started NetPoliticsGroup, and the Internet political firm Issue Dynamics have created a venture called Wider Reach Campaigns to provide Internet consulting services for national public policy campaigns.

     CapNet, the DC region's bipartisan lobbying group, held a briefing with Senate Democrats last Wednesday. CapNet members Susan DeFife, president and CEO of womenCONNECT.com, and Dan Woolley, president and COO of Global Integrity, discussed the Financial Accounting Standards Board and accounting policy concerns and the growing threat of computer viruses. CapNet held a similar briefing with House Republicans on Thursday.

     Politics.com recently announced an agreement to merge with LobbyForMe.com, which recently merged with Politics1.com and also plans to acquire PoliticalWag.com. The combined companies are aiming to harness their political content together, as well as conduct research and polling and view archived and live broadcasts of political events. "Our combined sites will offer more content and services to our visitors than any political site on the Internet," said Howard Baer, president of Politics.com.

     Hewlett-Packard and IBM were among five companies honored by The Conference Board with the 1999-2000 Ron Brown award for corporate leadership. Brown, a former Commerce Secretary, was killed in an airplane crash several years ago. The presidential award recognizes companies for "outstanding achievements in employee and community relations."

     Law firm Wiley, Rein&Fielding named John Kamp as counsel to participate in the firm's privacy and Internet practices. Kamp had been senior vice president of the American Association of Advertising Agencies. He was also a former member of the Federal Trade Commission's Advisory committee on online access and security. At AAAA, Kamp was responsible for monitoring Congress, federal agencies and the courts to address issues of importance to the advertising industry.

     Jonathan Zittrain, co-founder and executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard's law school, has been named assistant professor of law. Zittrain had been a lecturer on law at Harvard since 1997, where he led the Berkman Center's Internet research projects and taught courses on cyberlaw.

     Network Solutions Inc. has named Michael Aisenberg as director of public policy. Aisenberg has been in private practice law since 1998. Between 1981 and 1997, Aisenberg managed the Washington policy office of Digital Equipment and served as an attorney at the Federal Communications Commission from 1976 to 1981. "Michael is a veteran technology lobbyist who brings invaluable experience to Network Solutions external relations," said Roger Cochetti, NSI's senior vice president and chief policy officer. "Michael's broad involvement in information technology policy adds an important dimension to our government and industry relations efforts."

     President Clinton intends to nominate Robert LaRussa as under secretary for international trade at the Commerce Department. LaRussa is to replace David Aaron who worked for years on completing the United States' privacy agreement with the European Union. LaRussa currently is the assistant secretary for import administration at Commerce. He is responsible for leading the department's effort in administering certain U.S. duty laws to ensure a level playing field for America's industries in the global market. LaRussa also served as the principal deputy assistant secretary for the U.S. and Foreign Commercial Service, a global network located in over 200 cities worldwide dedicated to assisting U.S. business in their exporting efforts.

     Capitol Advantage has tapped Barkley Kern as its new chief operating officer to oversee daily operations of the political Internet company and help manage the company's expected expansion. Kern came to Capitol Advantage from C-Span where he handled programming and business operations. "We will look to Barkley to assess our growing infrastructure needs and manage our growth as we continue to experience unprecedented expansion," said Capitol Advantage President Robert Hansa. The company plans to move beyond offering Web tools for campaigns to Internet development, research and sales.

- by Bara Vaida