At Universal Service Administrative Co., FCC Chairman Ajit Chairman Pai OKs appointment from Farm Services Administration of Radha Sekar as USAC CEO; Vickie Robinson was acting CEO; the nonprofit that helps administer USF said its board accepted Robinson's resignation in roles also including vice president-general counsel, effective Dec. 31 and says she "accepted a leadership role with Microsoft’s Airband Initiative Team"; the company didn't comment ... New York Interconnect Head/Altice Media Solutions President Ed Renicker named CEO of new multi-operator cable advertising interconnect (see 1712130052).
Matt Johnson, ex-aide to Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Izzy Klein, ex-aide to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., start "lobby and public policy shop" Klein/Johnson Group, with clients including First Data and Oracle; Klein tells us both are the firm's co-founders and principals ... New at Pandora: Aimée Lapic, ex-Gap, joins as chief marketing officer ... FiberLight hires Marc Dyman, ex-Digital Realty Trust and Time Warner Cable, as executive vice president-chief revenue officer, new post ... Vonage adds Dharmesh Shah, ex-EarthLink, as vice president-inside sales, new post.
Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council's Kim Keenan resigns as president-CEO to "pursue another business opportunity," MMTC spokeswoman says; Maurita Coley Flippin named interim president-CEO and continues doing chief operating officer-executive vice president duties ... Internet Association hires Amy Murphy, who advised the now-retiring Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, as manager-federal government affairs ... Disney hires from Channel Media Solutions Mike Napodano as senior vice president-chief technology officer, Disney|ABC Television Group.
Wayne Luplow to retire in early January after a 53-year career at Zenith, including as one of the framers of HDTV; will remain a consultant on ATSC 3.0 and other issues and keep his ATSC board seat as a representative of IEEE ... Entercom re-adds Nichole Hartman, ex-Cox Media Group, as senior vice president-market manager, Chattanooga and promotes Claudia Menegus to senior vice president-market manager, Orlando ... Univision Communications moves up Dominic Fails to senior vice president-local media sales, for radio business nationwide.
At 21st Century Fox, Fox Networks Group promotes Brian Sullivan to president-chief operating officer, succeeding Randy Freer, who left last month to be Hulu CEO (see the personals section of the Oct. 25 issue of this publication) and Sullivan remains on Hulu's board; FNG President-Distribution Michael Biard and President-Ad Revenue Joe Marchese now report to Sullivan; advertising revenue group reorganized and Executive Vice President-Global Solutions Danielle Maged reports to Marchese with FNG Europe and Africa President Jan Koeppen and FNG Latin America President Carlos Martinez to Sullivan and FNG Chairman-CEO Peter Rice.
Marty Lafferty moves from Distributed Computing Industry Association CEO to senior executive consultant to the Telecommunications Industry Association ... Disney promotes Wendy McMahon to president-ABC Owned Television Stations Group, replacing Rebecca Campbell, recently moved to president-Disney Co., Europe, Middle East and Africa; both moves effective Jan. 1 (see 1709210053 or 1709210065) ... Gores Group names telecom and mobile executive Tom Cotney CEO-board member of Imagine Communication, succeeding Charlie Vogt, named Gores senior adviser and to work on transactions and business development at Imagine ... FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel appoints Jessica Martinez, ex-House Commerce Committee Democratic staff, as special adviser and confidential assistant.
Media Institute announces retirement of Patrick Maines, as expected (see 1711290048), effective Jan. 2; board Tuesday named him president emeritus; he's succeeded by Media Institute Executive Director Richard Kaplar, who runs the organization and keeps current title; Richard Wiley remains chairman ... 21st Century Fox promotes Uday Shankar to president-Asia, including media/entertainment properties and digital video platform Hotstar; Fox Networks Group Asia President Zubin Gandevia continues overseeing video brands across 14 markets and now reports to Shankar.
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr hires from TechFreedom Evan Swarztrauber as policy adviser for media issues ... Commissioner Mignon Clyburn adds from Hausfeld April Jones as policy analyst and special assistant to Clyburn and the office's other aides ... Womble Bond buying Bennet & Bennet, effective Jan. 1, with all the acquired communications and tech law firm's attorneys remaining: Carri Bennet, Michael Bennet and Marjorie Spivak will be partners, Carri tells us, with Erin Fitzgerald an associate; Daryl Zakov and Robert Silverman senior counsels; and Howard Shapiro of counsel.
Google Cloud names Diane Bryant, ex-Intel, chief operating officer ... Taylor Bennett leaves Pandora to join bicycle-sharing company ofo as head of communications, North America.
Internet Association adds Seattle office with hire of Rose Feliciano, who led the city's government relations, as manager-state government affairs, Northwest region ... Aspen Institute next president-CEO: Daniel Porterfield, president of Franklin & Marshall College; succeeding Walter Isaacson, effective June 1 ... Thompson Hine hires Steven Stransky, ex-National Security Council, as senior counsel-Privacy & Cybersecurity and Business Litigation groups ... Electronic Components Industry Association hires supply chain industry veteran Don Elario as vice president-industry practices and head of group's new Global Industry Practices Council.