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From Church To State
by Bara Vaida
The FBI named Darwin John as its chief information officer last week.
John most recently was managing director of information communications systems for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, where he spent the past 12 years setting the strategic direction and architecture for the 11-million-member church. John helped lead the creation of the church's family-search Internet Web site, which averages 7 million to 8 million hits a day and contains about 900 million names in its database.
In his new position at the FBI, John will lead the development of information technology strategies and will work closely with the laboratory, criminal-justice information services and information resources divisions. He is to report directly to FBI Director Robert Mueller.
Before his work with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, John worked in senior information-management positions with some major U.S. corporations, including Scott Paper and General Mills.
High-Tech Industry Moves
Walter Shaub has been hired to be the chief science adviser at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to oversee science, technology and data-quality issues that influence key regulatory and legislative decisions affecting U.S. businesses. Shaub is to help member companies meet the requirements of a recent data-quality law, which calls for agencies and participants in the regulatory process to use objective science to make decisions.
Before joining the chamber, Shaub was senior editor of Environmental Science & Technology, a publication owned by the American Chemical Society. He taught chemistry at George Mason University and was a research scientist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.
In other industry news, David Sutphen was named vice president and legislative counsel for governmental relations at the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). He was previously counsel to Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., handling intellectual property, antitrust and privacy issues before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Before that, he was chief of staff for Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn.
Ken Berlack, communications director of the National Commission on Entrepreneurship (NCOE), is leaving Washington for Kansas City, Mo., to join KCCatalyst, a nonprofit organization that works on local entrepreneurship issues. Berlack was previously press secretary to Rep. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, and deputy press secretary to Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. The NCOE has worked on several high-tech issues.
Dittus Communications, meanwhile, has hired Scott Beller as a new assistant vice president. He will implement media and external communications for technology clients. Before joining Dittus, Beller worked on strategy and management at Weber Shandwick Worldwide and spent four years with Fleishman-Hillard in Dallas and then Washington.
The Past And Future Of Science Education
President Bush last week honored 60 young scientists and engineers with the 2001 Presidential Early Career Awards. Among the winners were 20 people working on research supported by the National Science Foundation.
One recipient was Elizabeth Anna Davis, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan who researched how science teachers learn to use technology in their instruction. Another recipient, Satyandra Kumar Gupta, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland, is researching the future development of computer-aided design and manufacturing for new products.
Awarding a space-camp scholarship to a seventh-grader last Thursday, Rep. David Wu, D-Ore., stressed the importance of exposing youth, especially girls, to science and math.
"Whether you choose to continue to study science or not, all the studies show that kids who study science and math tend to go on to more study, whether at college or beyond," Wu told 12-year-old Bessie Chan of Maryland. Wu said that although girls and boys demonstrate similar math and science skills early in their education, before the end of high school, many more girls become disinterested. "I think in America today we have a shortage of people who are studying science and technology," Wu said, adding that the trend needs to be reversed.
Elsewhere, NetDay CEO Julie Evans won the 2003 Frances Hesselbein Community Innovation fellowship, the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management's highest recognition for social-sector leaders. Also, Nancy Pfund, managing director of JP Morgan H&Q, has joined the board of NetDay, an organization that helps schools use technology. And Alfred Berkeley, vice chairman of the Nasdaq stock index, was elected co-chairman with Ira Fishman of Patton Boggs.
Around The Agencies
Alden Adkins was named associate director of the division of market regulation at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He succeeds Belinda Blaine, who left the SEC last month. Adkins previously worked for the law firm of Bingham McCutchen and for the National Association of Securities Dealers. Before those jobs he worked at the SEC.
In other agency news, Brian Gunderson has been appointed the new chief of staff for U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick. Gunderson most recently was chief of staff to House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, and succeeds M.B. Oglesby, who left Zoellick's office to pursue other interests. Gunderson had been Armey's chief aide since 2000 and helped manage the House Republican legislative agenda, including passage of legislation to grant the president trade-negotiating authority. Before that, he held various positions for Armey, including administrative assistant, press secretary, legislative director and legislative assistant.
FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, meanwhile, announced that Alexis Johns has been "detailed to his office" to assist in handling media and consumer protection issues. She joined the FCC in 1996, most recently working in the competition-policy division of the Wireline Competition Bureau. Previously, she was an associate with the law firm of Cooley Godward.
Susanna Zwerling, who is currently Copps' legal adviser for media and consumer protection issues, plans to leave the FCC upon completion of several pending projects.
Also at the FCC, Robin Pence was named associate director of the agency's office of media relations. Pence previously worked at Sprint as director of corporate communications.
Rep. Johnson Has Money Edge In Connecticut
Rep. Nancy L. Johnson, R-Conn., who has been a champion of making the research and development tax credit permanent, holds a $1.7 million campaign fundraising edge over her Democratic opponent, Rep. James Maloney, according to the Hartford Courant.
Johnson and Malone were forced to challenge each other after redistricting last year. According to the paper, Johnson had almost $2.2 million in the bank as of June 30, while Maloney had $520,517 on hand.
Gnutella Developer Dies
Gene Kan, one of the developers behind the peer-to-peer software Gnutella, died last week, according to news reports. His death apparently was the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the San Mateo County, Calif., medical examiner's office said.
As the file-sharing program Napster became a target of music industry lawsuits, Kan emerged as an oft-quoted supporter of Gnutella, a file-sharing protocol that he and other developers altered so programmers around the world could duplicate it. After co-developing Gnutella, he founded a peer-to-peer search-engine company, InfraSearch, that Sun Microsystems later purchased.
Kan, 25, was employed by Sun at the time of his death.
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