 | |
| |
TechnologyDaily Mobile
BSA Names New Policy PR Director
by Bara Vaida
Jeri Clausing is joining the Business Software Alliance as its director of public relations for policy, replacing Patrick Mellody, who left earlier this year. Clausing most recently was executive editor of Interactive Week, a high-tech industry publication that was a casualty of the slowdown in technology advertising last year. Before Interactive Week, Clausing covered e-commerce issues for the New York Times and worked at the Seattle Post Intelligencer and the AP. "Jeri will be instrumental in helping BSA get the message out on copyright policy, security and trade," said Diane Smiroldo, vice president of public affairs at BSA.
White House Nominees
President Bush said he intends to nominate Kyle McSlarrow to be deputy secretary of the Energy Department. McSlarrow currently is chief of staff to Secretary Spencer Abraham. Before joining Energy, McSlarrow was vice president of political and government affairs for Grassroots.com, a political consulting and Web company. From January 1997 to November 1998, McSlarrow served as chief of staff to the late Sen. Paul Coverdell, R-Ga., and the Republican Conference. He has served as deputy chief of staff and chief counsel to former Senate Majority Leaders Bob Dole, R-Kan., and Trent Lott, R-Miss., and was an attorney with the Washington law firm of Hunton and Williams where he practiced environmental and energy litigation. McSlarrow's wife, Alison McSlarrow, has represented Microsoft as a lobbyist.
Bush also nominated David Gross for the rank of ambassador during his tenure of service as deputy assistant secretary for international communications and information policy in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, and U.S. coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy. Gross plays a key role on international e-commerce issues.
A Gem Of A Job
Marc Pearl has been named senior vice president at Fleishman-Hillard's government relations unit, where he will lead the firm's technology, communications and e-commerce practice group. Most recently, Pearl was partner and head of the e-commerce policy practice at Shaw Pittman. He also has been senior vice president and general counsel for the Information Technology Association of America (ITAA). In addition to running Fleishman-Hillard's tech practice, Pearl also serves as the e-commerce industry representative on the U.S. delegation to the Hague Conference on International Private and Commerce law, which is negotiating a treaty on jurisdiction. He also sits on the Commerce Department, U.S. Trade Representative Experts Committee on Electronic Commerce for the Free Trade Area of the Americas.
The FBI said it has hired Sherry Higgins and Kenneth Ritchhart to support the FBI's efforts to rebuild its information infrastructure and to support recruiting efforts. Higgins worked for 30 years at AT&T, and later, Lucent. Most recently, she was an instructor of project management with the International Institute for Learning and also supported the Technology Command Center at the 2002 Olympic games in Salt Lake City, Utah. Ritchhart has spent the past 20 within the FBI as project and information technology manager, including oversight of database systems. Most recently, Ritchhart served as program manager of Joint Intelligence Virtual Architecture at the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Peter Rooney has been named staff director for the House Science subcommittee on Environment, Technology and Standards, replacing John Mimikakis, who became deputy chief of staff the full Science Committee. Rooney most recently was the founding executive director of the Forum on Technology and Innovation, which was organized by Senators Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.Va., and the Council of Competitiveness several years ago to examine high-tech policy issues.
Hear The Call Of The West
Lobbying group TechNet is organizing a policy roundtable to be hosted by Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina on April 5 with House Whip Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Also scheduled to attend are Reps. Anna Eshoo, Mike Honda and Zoe Lofgren, who all are Silicon Valley Democrats. The TechNet invitation notes that only CEOs and senior executives are invited to attend the lunch, which is to take place at Hewlett Packard's headquarters. Likely topics of the policy discussion are broadband, stock options and trade.
Also on April 5, SEC Chairman Harvey Pitt is scheduled to visit Silicon Valley to talk about securities issues with high-tech executives. Another scheduled visitor to the West Coast is House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., who is to meet on March 27 with TechNet's Orange County members to discuss the Tech Talent bill, H.R. 3130, which would establish a grant program for undergraduate institutions pledging to increase the number of U.S. citizens or permanent residents obtaining degrees in the science and technology fields.
In other TechNet news, the organization's CEO Rick White and co-founder John Doerr, co-penned an op-ed about stock options that ran in the Washington Post last week. The piece cautions Congress not to support legislation, S. 1940, pending in the Senate that would change the way companies account for stock options. In lawmakers' "eagerness to prevent future balance-sheet abuses, some have made the mistake of setting their sights on employee stock options. Far from being the culprit in the Enron mess, stock options are an innocent bystander," the piece said. Doerr and White argue that stock options are an important tool for the nation's economic growth. Two weeks ago, Doerr and White, along with about 40 high-tech CEOs, visited Washington to lobby Congress against the legislation, co-sponsored by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Carl Levin, D-Mich. Connie Correll, executive vice president of TechNet, said the CEOs feel the visit resulted in a slowdown in momentum on the legislation. Hearings on the measure could occur in the Senate Finance Committee after the Easter break.
In other high-tech and lawmaker news, CapNet, the lobbying group which represents the Washington-area high-tech community, held a breakfast for Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who discussed intellectual property, stock options, immigration, export controls and spam legislation. IBM hosted the breakfast and attendees included executives from AOL Time Warner, Dittus Communications, EDS, Gateway, Intuit, the ITAA and the Petrizzo Group. Before becoming a member of Congress, Issa worked for an electronics company.
And the Winner Is...
The Information Technology Industry Council on Wednesday will award its 2001 legislators of the year awards to lawmakers who supported high-tech issues. The winners are Sen. George Allen, R-Va., for his work as head of the Senate Republican High-Tech Task Force; Senate Majority Whip Harry Reid, D-Nev., for his efforts to get the Export Administration Act, S. 149, passed in the Senate; Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., for his leadership on emerging computer security and government procurement issues, and Rep. Bill Jefferson, D-La., in recognition of his work to get presidential trade negotiating authority passed in the House.
FTC Commissioner Mozelle Thompson was elected chair of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's committee on consumer policy last week. The committee is comprised of officials representing 30 countries and is the only international government forum whose mission is to consider consumer issues. Thompson was one of the key negotiators and drafters of the December 1999 OECD Guidelines on Consumer Protection in e-commerce. "International consumer protection issues are critically important and constitute a growing area of emphasis," said FTC Chairman Tim Muris.
NEW FEATURE
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
