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TechnologyDaily Mobile
From Pulp Mills To High-Tech
by Bara Vaida
John Hassell, the new director of Hewlett-Packard's Washington office, has an appreciation for the old and new economies. Before joining Hewlett-Packard in January 2000 as public affairs director, Hassell worked for Simpson Investment, a Seattle-based forest and paper-products company. He also was public-affairs manager for FMC defense systems group and government affairs representative for Caterpillar.
"I have an appreciation for different sectors of the economy," Hassell said. "I worked in heavy manufacturing industries, which implement many of the technologies that Hewlett-Packard and other tech companies produce ... and some of their public policies issues overlap, specifically in the area of trade."
While Hassell is filling an existing position -- last filled by Phil Bond, who left the company to head the Technology Administration -- HP has expanded the job to include state government relations, as well as congressional and executive branch lobbying. Hassell said the impact of many issues, such as privacy, span many levels of government, including international.
Separately, the D.C. offices of HP and Compaq Computer, which HP is purchasing, are merging. Hassell declined to say how many Compaq staffers would join HP's office.
HP CEO Carly Fiorina is expected to fly to the nation's capital next week for the semi-annual meeting of the Computer Systems Policy Project. The CEO-led coalition has meetings scheduled with lawmakers and White House staff June 26-27.
Expected to join Fiorina are Dell Computer CEO Michael Dell, EMC CEO Joseph Tucci, IBM CEO Lou Gerstner, Intel CEO Craig Barrett and Uniysis CEO Lawrence Weinbach. They plan to discuss presidential trade-negotiating authority, export controls, broadband policy, technology to manage digital rights, and privacy.
Last week, Fiorina participated in the White House high-tech summit, where President Bush spoke. Before that event she and former Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Robert Herbold and Applied Materials CEO James Morgan met with members of the Republican High-Tech Task Force. The senators who attended included task force Chairman George Allen of Virginia, Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas and Gordon Smith of Oregon.
The executives pressed for final passage of trade-negotiating legislation and export-control reform. They also discussed plans by the Treasury Department to extend a moratorium on rules that would require companies to assess payroll taxes on employee stock plans, broadband deployment and privacy.
Later this week, members of the Senate High-Tech Task Force and the House Republican High-Tech Working group are jointly scheduled to host a meeting celebrating FTC Chairman Timothy Muris' first year at his job. It also will serve as a forum for members to discuss privacy issues.
Industry Moves
Moya Morgan, who was program manager in the Washington office of Siebel Systems, has moved to the business side of the company to manage targeted marketing programs for the company's public-sector accounts. Replacing Morgan is Scott Morris, who moved from the West Coast to join Siebel's D.C. office.
With the move, Morris, who was Siebel's marketing director, took the new title of director of government affairs. Morris had been a media strategist for Bush's campaign and was political communications director for the Stuart Stevens Group, based in Alexandria, Va. He was also deputy director of candidate operations for former Sen. Robert Dole's presidential campaign in 1996.
Elsewhere, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) has named Tara Dunion as director of communications. Dunion is to manage communication initiatives for a variety of CEA divisions, including the accessories product division, high-end audio subdivision, and technology and standards department. Dunion has more than 10 years communication experience, most recently as director of corporate communications for Sideware, an online customer-service firm. She also has managed consumer technology accounts for companies such as Sun Microsystems and Intel while serving as a communications consultant.
America Online, a unit of AOL Time Warner, has named John Buckley as executive vice president of corporate communications. Buckley will replace Ann Brackbill, who has been named vice president of AOL Time Warner and has been reporting to Executive Vice President Kenneth Lerer. Buckley is to oversee all external and internal communications at AOL and its brands, including Netscape, CompuServe, Moviefone and ICQ. Currently, Buckley is vice president of communications for AOL Time Warner, which he has served as a company spokesman and strategist on policy and corporate communications issues.
FCC Family Matters
Each year when the FCC's Wireless Bureau issues its annual competition report, observers eagerly await Bureau Chief Tom Sugrue's update on his family's wireless adventures. The report, presented at the FCC's meeting last Thursday, found that competition is thriving and the industry is growing, but if the Sugrue family incursions into the wireless market is any indication, not all customers are aware of the myriad plans.
That awareness came into focus when Sugrue's daughter, Kerry, joined a family plan for 210 shared minutes at $40 per month. The number of minutes used soared and the bill skyrocketed because Kerry did not realize that there would be charges for long-distance service or that roaming services incur extra fees.
Which got Sugrue to thinking: "If the daughter of the chief of the wireless bureau wasn't well informed, others wouldn't be." So the FCC on Monday issued its "What You Should Know About Wireless Phone Service." And Kerry Sugrue has found a new wireless plan.
Energizing The Committee
Tina Kaarsberg has joined the House Science Energy Subcommittee as a professional staff member. She most recently led the Energy Department's power technologies analysis collaborative for the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. In 1992, she worked on Capitol Hill as an American Physical Society congressional fellow and has 12 years of science and energy policy experience, as well as eight years of physics research experience.
In other news, Everett Eissenstat has been named chief international trade counsel for the minority on the Senate Finance Committee, announced the office of committee ranking Republican Charles Grassley, R-Iowa. Eissenstat will advise Grassley on all trade matters before the committee and coordinate the trade work of committee Republicans. Eissenstat has worked as the legislative director to Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz.
Bush's Names Okun To ITC
President Bush named Deanna Tanner Okun as chairwoman of the International Trade Commission (ITC) for a two-year term. Okun has served as vice chair of the ITC since 1999. She previously was counsel for international affairs to Sen. Frank Murkowski, R-Alaska.
Bush also named Jennifer Anne Hillman as vice chairwoman of the ITC. Hillman has served as a commissioner of the ITC since 1998. Before her appointment, she served as general counsel for the U.S. trade representative. The ITC regulates international competition practices.
Sun And Fund In Silicon Valley
During this year's usual summer break in August, several House Republicans are expected to travel to Silicon Valley for a National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) fundraiser to be hosted by lobbying group TechNet.
The event is scheduled for Aug. 22 and is expected to include NRCC Chairman Tom Davis of Virginia, Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier of California, Rep. Gerald Weller of Illinois and House Ways and Means Trade Subcommittee Chairman Phil Crane, also of Illinois.
TechNet raised about $200,000 at a fundraiser last November, according to an NRCC spokesman.
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