 | |
| |
TechnologyDaily Mobile
Black Lawmakers Tour Dallas Tech Firms
by Bara Vaida
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) are feeling more important to the high-tech community a year after publicly complaining that high-tech companies were ignoring them. Last weekend, the Information Technology Industry Council (ITI) hosted a trip for 13 CBC members to visit high-tech facilities and a technology magnet school in Dallas, the home base of CBC Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas.
"Definitely, I think our relationship has improved," a Johnson spokeswoman said. "The focus of the weekend was how we can partner together." For example, Johnson's spokeswoman said, a Hewlett-Packard representative asked Johnson to let her know which schools in CBC members' districts lack computers so the company could work to get computers there.
During the weekend, CBC delegation visited the offices of IBM, Hewlett-Packard, Kodak and Texas Instruments, and met with senior executives from Dell Computer and Compaq Computer. They also joined a roundtable discussion with high-tech executives on education, trade and new markets at a Dallas magnet school in front of about 300 students.
"It was a two-way learning experience," said Matt Tanielian, ITI's government relations director. "We agreed to come up with ways to work together more, and not just on the legislative front but on a variety of different levels."
Besides Johnson, House Democrats who made the trip to Dallas included: Edolphus Towns, Gregory Meeks and Major Owens, all of New York; Corrine Brown and Carrie Meek, both of Florida; James Clyburn, S.C.; Elijah Cummings, Md.; Earl Hilliard, Ala.; William Jefferson, La.; Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Ohio; Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas; Barbara Lee, Calif.; and Mel Watt, N.C.
Battle Of The 'Nets'
TechNet CEO Rick White and CapNet Executive Director Tim Hugo exchanged frosty words at a breakfast several weeks ago. White, who just took over TechNet this year, has been looking at expanding the lobbying organization outside Silicon Valley, and northern Virginia was on his target list. Hugo, however, said his organization does not want to become part of TechNet, though he said he would be happy to work with White.
"Rick said, 'We want CapNet to come under the TechNet umbrella' ... and I was a bit taken aback," Hugo said. "We are a national organization with an East Coast core. ... Why would we want to be second-class citizens to Silicon Valley?"
In an interview last Tuesday, White said TechNet is not a Silicon Valley organization trying to tell others what to do; rather, it is trying to create a national network.
Before White joined the organization, TechNet had begun expanding, first in Indiana, then in Los Angeles, Austin, Texas, Boston and Orange County, Calif. TechNet expects to open its next two "nodes" in Seattle and potentially Atlanta.
On The Corporate Front
Though former TechNet CEO Roberta Katz is no longer steeped in the Internet and politics world, she remains firmly in the new economy. Earlier this year, she formally launched her new company, Flywheel Communications, a San Francisco-based company that provides an Internet platform for the exchange, review and approval of all the rights and obligations contained in contracts and other legal agreements.
Elsewhere, Kathleen deLaski, AOL Time Warner's director of political and government programming, has left the online and publishing giant to join Sallie Mae as senior vice president and chief communications officer. During her years at America Online and the merged AOL Time Warner, deLaski helped create the online service's government and political services pages. She also organized AOL's presence at the political conventions, which included a media box and live coverage of the convention.
David Markey is retiring as vice president of governmental affairs at BellSouth on June 1. Markey has been a leader of the company's Washington operations for 17 years, representing BellSouth's legislative and regulatory interests. He was named head of the BellSouth Washington office in 1995. Before joining BellSouth in 1985, Markey headed the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. Herschel Abbott, currently the president of BellSouth's Louisiana operations, will replace Markey.
Hatch Taps New Communications Chief
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, promoted Margarita Tapia to be the panel's press secretary. She replaces Jeanne Lopatto, who left the job to head public affairs at the Energy Department. For the past year, Tapia has served as the deputy press secretary to the committee. She previously headed media relations for numerous Republican campaigns, including Hatch's 2000 presidential campaign.
Freeh To Be On His Own
FBI chief Louis Freeh on Tuesday announced his retirement as director. On the FBI's Web site, Freeh detailed his department's accomplishments during his almost eight years with the agency. They include a "greater emphasis on counter-intelligence, counter-terrorism, international organized crime, high-tech and economic crimes, civil rights violations, and crimes against children."
Now Speaking For The EIA
The Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA) has two more new hires this month. Kerry Fennelly has joined EIA as the director of communications and government affairs from Sequoia Software, where she was the corporate communications director. Before that, Fennelly was a long-time aide to former Sen. Connie Mack, R-Fla.
Also new at EIA is Brian Kelly, who joined as senior vice president for government relations and communications. Kelly had been the director of government relations for the Walt Disney Co. and before that was the government affairs director at National Association of Broadcasters.
Making It Official
President Bush announced his intention to nominate James Ziglar to be the commissioner of Immigration and Naturalization Service. Ziglar was elected as the 35th Senate Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper in October 1998. Before that, he served as managing director of Paine Webber in the firm's Municipal Securities Group.
Bush also has sent some more officials nominations to the Senate, including those of Timothy Muris to head the FTC, Kathleen Abernathy and Michael Copps to be members of the FCC, Kathleen Cooper to be the Commerce undersecretary for economic affairs, James Jochum to be an assistant Commerce secretary, Susan Neuman to be the assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education, and Eugene Hickok to be the Education undersecretary.
Finding Common Education Ground
Michael Armstrong, chairman and CEO of AT&T; Carly Fiorina, chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard, and Doug Atkin, president and CEO of Instinet, are three of seven co-chairmen of Americans For Better Education, which formally launched last week.
"The coalition will focus on several important provisions in [Bush's education] plan that all members agree upon and support," a press release said. Those provisions include annual assessments of students' math and reading skills and "meaningful consequences" for continually failing schools, but a Hewlett-Packard official said the coalition does not endorse private-school vouchers, which is one aspect of Bush's "No Child Left Behind" proposal.
And The Award Goes To ...
KPMG and Washington TechWay will host a dinner Tuesday to honor four "technology legends": James Kimsey, the former chairman and CEO of America Online; Norman Augustine, the retired chairman of Lockheed Martin; James Barrett, the former president of Life Technologies; and William McGowan, the late founder of MCI. The dinner is the 14th annual event to honor technology executives. Separately, Kimsey is also joining the board of Thayer Capital Partners to advise to the investment firm.
Meanwhile, Peter Orvetti, a former editor at National Journal's Technology Daily, recently was nominated by the Webby Awards for his political Web site Orvetti.com. The nomination is for the best political Web site of the year. Webby Awards bills itself as "the Oscars of the Internet" and unites members of the international online community for a celebration of the Internet's best in San Francisco in July.
NEW FEATURE
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
