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Senate's Verdery to Join Vivendi
by Bara Vaida
Stewart Verdery, who wears the dual hats of general counsel to Assistant Senate Minority Leader Don Nickles, R-Okla., and a lead staff member of the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force, is leaving Capitol Hill to become senior legislative counsel at Vivendi Universal.
In his new role, which begins in two weeks, Verdery will lobby on telecommunications, e-commerce and copyright issues on the Hill and within regulatory agencies. Vivendi, which owns movies studios, Universal Music Group, MP3.com, cable channels and publishing interests, has increased its involvement in Internet issues as demand for content on the Web has grown.
"Stewart has played a key role in the transformation of the High-Tech Task Force into the lead advocate for technology-friendly policies in the Senate. ... We will miss his advice," said Virginia Republican George Allen, chairman of the task force.
Verdery's departure follows a six-year career on the Hill, first as counsel in the personal office of Sen. John Warner, R-Va., and later as counsel to the Senate Rules Committee and counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Elsewhere in the Senate, the office of Arizonan John McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, has seen some staff changes in the past month.
Maureen Mclaughlin, who was McCain's senior counsel on communications at the committee, left last month to become senior counsel at the FCC's Office of General Counsel. McCain's staff continues to interview for Mclaughlin's replacement. That staffer may play a key role in the debate over high-speed Internet legislation if the House passes the so-called Tauzin-Dingell bill.
In addition, Jeanne Bumpus became staff minority director at the Commerce Committee, replacing Marc Buse, who left the Hill to work for the lobbying arm of the law firm Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo.
Staff Changes At The Agencies
Back at the FCC's Office of General Counsel, Rhonda Vosdingh has been named associate general counsel for enforcement. She will be responsible for overall direction and management of the office's enforcement program, supervising some 55 staffers, including investigators, paralegals, docket technicians and secretaries.
In other agency news, the FBI has appointed David Szady as assistant director for counterintelligence and Grant Ashley as assistant director for criminal investigations. Previously, Szady was the first national counterintelligence executive tasked with transforming the nation's counterintelligence efforts. Ashley most recently was a special agent in charge of the FBI's Las Vegas division.
Dan Langan, meanwhile, has been named acting director of public affairs at the Education Department. He replaces Lindsey Kozberg, who left to become communications director of the USA Freedom Corps, which offers public-service opportunities to Americans.
The EMC Three
The data-storage firm EMC has expanded the size of its government relations staff in Washington by three people over the past two months, and all three hold the title of government relations manager.
Cord Sterling joins EMC from the Senate Armed Services Readiness and Management Support Subcommittee, where he was the lead staff member. During his seven years working for the panel, Sterling oversaw the Pentagon's $83.3 billion budget for military readiness, which included ensuring that the department's computers were ready for the Y2K computer glitch.
Craig Metz and Dave LesStrang have joined EMC's staff. Metz was the chief of staff to Rep. Floyd Spence, R-S.C., until Spence's death last year. At the time of his death, Spence was chairman of the House Armed Services Committee and of its Military Procurement Subcommittee. LesStrang was the legislative director and deputy chief of staff to Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., who currently is chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
In other corporate news, Fairfax, Va.-based Anteon International has appointed former Defense Secretary William Perry to its board of directors. "Perry is recognized nationally and internationally for his work in advancing technology and for his public service at the highest levels of government," said Frederick Iseman, chairman of Anteon, an information technology and government-contracting firm.
Opening Arguments
Janis Kestenbaum has joined the communications and e-commerce practice of the Wilmer Cutler & Pickering law firm. Kestenbaum was previously a trial attorney in the Justice Department's civil division, where she represented federal agencies and officials in constitutional and regulatory matters.
Elsewhere on the legal front, Jeffrey Sheldon, Cogent Communications' vice president for fiber acquisition, became a partner in the Washington office of McDermott, Will & Emery. Influence Online reported that Sheldon will focus on regulatory work at the FCC and other agencies, and he will handle some lobbying in Congress.
At Cogent, Sheldon told Influence Online that he "learned a lot about the inner workings of a telecom company, and I have a much greater appreciation of the day-to-day challenges faced by companies trying to make a network."
Ex-Dot Commer Campaigns In Maine
Hannah Pingree, a former political writer for the women's Web site iVillage.com, announced that she is running for a seat in Maine's state House this year.
She grew up in one of Maine's offshore island towns and said in a news release that "there are many issues that are unique" to islands "that deserve representation." Pingree also is actively working to elect her mother, former Democratic state Sen. Chellie Pingree, to the U.S. Senate. Pingree is a Democratic candidate in the race to unseat incumbent Republican Susan Collins.
Rewarding Communication
The National Academy of Engineering is honoring Eli Fromm, a professor of engineering at Drexel University, for expanding the school's curriculum to include communications skills for engineers. Drexel's curriculum has spread to other schools across the country and has helped increase the retention rate of engineering majors.
"The new environment requires an engineer to have communication skills. ... Fromm and his colleagues were among the first and most influential in bringing these kinds of skills into the engineering curriculum," the National Academy said in a statement.
Fromm won a $500,000 prize from the academy in recognition of his work.
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