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Matt Flanigan's Short-Lived Retirement
by Heather Greenfield
Retirement was short-lived for former Telecommunications Industry Association CEO Matt Flanigan. He was down in Myrtle Beach, S.C., meeting with a builder about his new house, when he was offered the job of interim CEO at the Electronic Industries Alliance for a few months.
"I thought about it for a week, and the executive committee endorsed it," Flanigan said.
Charlie Robinson, who has been interim CEO since January, has decided to follow his former boss at EIA, Dave McCurdy, to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers next month as vice president for finance. "After a great run with an outstanding organization, a wonderful staff and terrific members, another opportunity has come along that I just couldn't pass up," Robinson said.
Flanigan got to enjoy nearly four months of retirement and said the new temporary job works out fine because he was not planning to move until next year. "It was good timing for everybody and I'm happy to do it," Flanigan said.
"No one is better suited to guide EIA at this time than Matt Flanigan," said Mike Kennedy, EIA's board chairman and a senior vice president of Motorola. "I served as chairman of TIA's board while Matt was president, and I found him to be a strong and effective leader."
Flanigan said he will not be helping with the decision-making process as EIA searches for a leader, saying an executive committee is in charge of that.
Former Sen. George Allen, R-Va., has been mentioned as a possible leader for the trade association, but that rumor came out before EIA had formally chosen an executive search firm.
Taking The '1984' Video To 'The Bank'
The former Blue State Digital employee who produced the "1984" mash-up political video that was seen on YouTube more than 3 million times has a new assignment.
Phil de Vellis, a Democrat, released his latest video, "The Bank," on Thursday. The spoof parodies World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz as the boss from the TV show "The Office."
"This is the first one I've done since the 1984 ad," de Vellis said in an interview with Technology Daily. He said he agreed to the project for the global online activist group Avaaz.org because he believed in the message that Wolfowitz has to go despite apologizing for negotiate a job and pay increase for his girlfriend, who also worked for the World Bank.
It took de Vellis just more than a day to get the idea and edit the new video on his laptop using Final Cut Pro. The new video had been seen nearly 87,000 times as of Monday night.
De Vellis anonymously did the 1984 ad, which attacked the presidential candidacy of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., on his own time while working for Blue State Digital. He was fired as a result of the work. This time, he was paid for his wit and editing skills. "It helps keep the lights on, so I appreciate that," de Vellis said.
He said the last few weeks have been a great time for him to figure out what's next. "I don't want to be typecast as the mash-up guy," de Vellis said. "I have had some offers, some of them good, some of them strange."
With a background in politics, Internet communications and producing video, de Vellis ultimately wants to be more directly involved in politics again, perhaps working with a campaign "and hopefully not get fired next time."
Internet Guru Trippi Joins Edwards' Campaign
Joe Trippi, an expert in politics and technology and the one-time 2004 presidential campaign manager to Howard Dean, will become a senior adviser for presidential candidate John Edwards.
Trippi is the author of "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Democracy, the Internet and the Overthrow of Everything." He previously was an aide for Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and has worked on almost every presidential race since 1980.
In a posting on Edwards' campaign blog, Trippi said he thought his campaign days were over. But when Edwards made the decision a few weeks ago to continue the campaign after his wife, Elizabeth, learned that her cancer had returned and progressed, Trippi realized too much was at stake to sit on the sidelines.
"The war in Iraq continues, and more of our troops will lose their lives," he wrote. "Working Americans are losing ground. Poverty continues in the wealthiest nation on the planet. And nearly nothing is really being done to reduce global warming."
The Dean campaign was seen as the first successful campaign to really use the Internet to gather campaign contributions. It was credited with helping Dean raise $59 million for the 2004 race. The campaign also had 650,000 people join Dean's online community.
A blogger at MyDD called Edwards' decision to hire Trippi, "a very significant development. It shows the Edwards campaign is dedicated to the netroots and is focused on running a truly transformational campaign."
Appointments Galore At Homeland Security
Some longstanding vacancies at the Homeland Security Department, including in public affairs, are being filled.
Secretary Michael Chertoff has named J. Edward Fox as assistant secretary for public affairs. The position has been vacant since last summer, when the previous public affairs director left for the State Department.
"One of this department's most important tasks is to communicate clearly and effectively with the American public and stakeholders, and Ed brings more than 25 years of experience in external affairs to my senior leadership team," Chertoff said in a statement.
Fox is moving over from the U.S. Agency for International Development, where he served as assistant administrator for legislative and public affairs. Before that, he was president and CEO of Fox & Associates and vice president of the Carmen Group.
This isn't Fox's first stint in the executive branch. During the Reagan administration, he was assistant secretary for legislative and intergovernmental affairs at State.
Chertoff also announced that President Bush intends to nominate Dennis Schrader to be the deputy administrator for national preparedness at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "Schrader is thoroughly familiar with the needs of state and local emergency management, having been Maryland's first homeland security adviser and responsible for partnering with the national capital region jurisdictions to develop homeland security programs in the area," Chertoff said.
Chertoff said Schrader's 26 years of Navy service will be a "valuable asset" for the department.
Anne Petera, meanwhile, has a new job at Homeland Security as assistant secretary for intergovernmental programs. Chertoff said Petera joined the department last year as senior adviser to the undersecretary for management.
And Bush has named Thomas Bossert of Pennsylvania to be his special assistant for homeland security and senior director for preparedness policy. Bossert recently served as director of infrastructure protection policy on the White House Homeland Security Council.
Quote Of The Week
"There is only one tool, one platform, one medium that allows the American people to take their government back, and that's the Internet."
-- Joe Trippi, describing in his new Wikipedia.org posting how the Internet is impacting politics.
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