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Taking A Break From Technology Policy
by Bara Vaida
Peter Harter resigned from his job as senior vice president of business development and public policy at computer security firm Securify in July to take a break from working and to reflect on his past 10 years in Internet law and policy.
"This is my first break of any length of time since entering the work force after law school," Harter said. "I am training for my fourth marathon, visiting with friends and family around the country and doing less e-mail as the days go by."
Harter has held jobs as vice president for public policy and standards at Emusic and global public policy counsel at Netscape Communications. "I've been very fortunate in my career in terms of employers, managers, mentors, colleagues, issues and locations. Now that the Internet boom and bust have past, it is a good time to reflect and think about what may be next and where and when."
Harter remains an investor in Securify, and he advises a new digital music startup in San Francisco. He continues to be involved in public policy activities as a board member of the Progress and Freedom Foundation and the Internet Law and Policy Forum.
A High-Tech Marriage
Two prominent high-tech public affairs consultants -- Greg Simon, the founder of Simon Strategies, and Ken Kay, the co-founder of InfoTech Strategies -- have merged their forces. Simon and his partner, Kristan Van Hook, announced that they are becoming part of the InfoTech Strategies team, each with the title of principal. John Raffetto, InfoTech's senior vice president for public relations also is joining Simon and Van Hook as a new principal.
Simon Strategies was the lead public affairs firm for the OpenNet Coalition, which in 1999 sought open to win Internet service providers open access to cable systems. InfoTech Strategies represents the Computer Systems Policy Project, a group of high-tech CEOs that focuses on high-speed Internet, digital content and trade issues.
Simon spent four years as then-Vice President Al Gore's domestic policy adviser before launching Simon Strategies in 1997. Van Hook was a legislative affairs director for the Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration when President Clinton held office.
Meanwhile, Privacy Council CEO Larry Ponemon has resigned to launch the Ponemon Institute, a think tank designed to advance ethical information and privacy management in the business world. The institute is based in Tucson, Ariz.
Seeking Peking Relationship
When the Technology Administration's Commerce Undersecretary Phil Bond leaves for China Saturday, he will be accompanied by a delegation of staff from the Electronic Industries Alliance.
EIA President David McCurdy and Senior Vice President Brian Kelly, as well as Matt Flanigan, president of the Telecommunications Industry Association, also are making the trip. And Adam Goldman, a senior member of the White House Office of Public Liaison, is joining the group.
Kelly said the trip to China has been arranged to discuss the environment, broadband issues and China's implementation of rules they agreed to as part of the nation's accession to the World Trade Organization. "We want to talk with them about how we can develop a working relationship with them on an ongoing basis," Kelly said.
Young, Rich -- And Some Still Available
Fortune magazine's Sept. 16 issue lists the top 40 wealthiest individuals in the United States younger than 40, and more than half of them work or worked in the high-tech industry.
The top five include: Michael Dell, 37, founder of Dell Computer; Pierre Omidyar, 35, co-founder of eBay; Jeff Skoll, 37, co-founder of eBay; Jeff Bezos, 38, founder of Amazon.com; and Ted Waitt, 39, founder of Gateway Computer.
Fortune said that most of the young and rich have been hit by the stock-market declines and that their combined wealth has been cut in half since 2000, when it peaked at $73.7 billion. The magazine also noted who in the top 40 remain bachelors, including Skoll, former Netscape Communications co-founder Marc Andreessen, 31, and Jared Polis, 27, founder of the e-greeting card company BlueMountain.com.
The Gray-Plate Special In California
John Doerr, a Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers partner and TechNet co-founder, is scheduled to host a $10,000-a-plate fundraiser for Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, who is seeking re-election in California this fall.
The event will be Sept. 24 in Palo Alto, Calif., and the other hosts will include: Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix and former TechNet president; Myrtle Potter, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Genentech; and John Thompson, chairman and CEO of Symantec.
The New Democrat Network also is holding several fundraisers this week, including a wine-tasting event for former New Democrat Coalition co-chairman Calvin Dooley, D-Calif., on Tuesday at his home in northern Virginia. Other coalition events include a Wednesday breakfast for Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., and a Thursday fundraiser for Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif.
Swimming Up The File-Sharing Stream
StreamCast Networks, owner of the Morpheus peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing system, has expanded its executive team. New members of the team include Gary Sonnier as COO and Trey Bowles as vice president of strategic development.
In his position as COO, Sonnier will help restructure the company to grow the emerging P2P market. Most recently, he was COO and executive vice president of business development for SolidStreaming, a wireless software startup. Before that, he was a senior director of product marketing and business development for Motorola.
Bowles was promoted to his new position from director of sales and marketing. In his new role, Bowles will focus on analysis of market opportunities for P2P.
Elsewhere, the National Retail Federation has hired Elizabeth Treanor as government relations counsel. In that position, she will work on bankruptcy, banking, Internet tax, technology and consumer privacy issues. She previously was counsel to Senate Judiciary Committee ranking Republican Orrin Hatch of Utah.
And Eric Dean has resigned as president of the Liberty Alliance management board to devote more time to his job as chief information officer of United Airlines. Michael Barrett, a vice president at American Express and the current vice president of the alliance board, will replace Dean temporarily. The Liberty Alliance is a consortium of 100 companies working on an authentication solution for Web services to rival Microsoft's Passport authentication initiative.
The FCC Staff Shuffle
FCC Chairman Michael Powell has named Bryan Tramont as senior legal adviser. Tramont also will be responsible for wireless and international issues.
Since June 2001, Tramont has served as senior legal adviser to FCC Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy, where he worked on technology and enforcement issues. Replacing Tramont temporarily in Abernathy's office is Matthew Brill, the commissioner's legal adviser for wireline competition issues.
Tramont is replacing Peter Tenhula, who Powell named as co-director of the FCC's Spectrum Policy Task Force. In that position, Tenhula will work closely with task force director Paul Kolodzy. Tenhula has been on Powell's staff since 1997, when he became a legal adviser.
In other people news, Leslie Lott, David Moyer and Jon Sandelin have been named to jobs at the Patent and Trademark Office Trademark Advisory Committee, which examines the agency's operations, goals, performance, budget and user fees. Lott previously was a private attorney with Lott & Friedland; Moyer was an associate general counsel of intellectual property at Procter & Gamble; and Sandelin was a senior licensing associate at Stanford University, where he is founder and director of the trademark-licensing program.
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