At Equifax, Chairman-CEO Richard Smith retires, will be unpaid adviser to help with transition; board member Mark Feidler, partner of MSouth, named non-executive chairman; Paulino do Rego Barros, most recently president-Asia Pacific, named interim CEO; Feidler apologizes on board's behalf for Equifax cybersecurity breach (see 1709110035 and 1709260021) ... Adams and Reese adds Michael Bednarek, ex-Locke Lord, as partner and member, global Intellectual Property practice ... Crowell & Moring hires Alexis Gilman, ex-FTC, as partner, global Antitrust Group ... SEC forms Cyber Unit targeting "cyber-related misconduct" with staff from Enforcement Division: Robert Cohen named chief and continues leading Market Abuse Unit.
NCTA senior vice presidents retiring, effective this fall: Jadz Janucik, association affairs, and Barbara York, industry affairs ... Sheppard Mullin adds as partner Liisa Thomas from Winston & Strawn as co-leader, Privacy and Cybersecurity practice ... Leaving ICANN: Vice President-Government Engagement Anne-Rachel Inne ... Cox Communications promotes Philip Nutsugah to senior vice president-product development and management; Steve Necessary, who led major video initiatives and managed product portfolio, retiring, effective at year's end ... Salem Media Group promotes Steve Brodsky to general manager San Diego cluster KPRZ(AM) San Marcos-Poway and KCBQ(AM) San Diego.
Akamai promotes Aaron Ahola to succeed Melanie Haratunian as senior vice president-general counsel-corporate secretary, effective Oct. 1; Haratunian retiring, remains in advisory role reporting to CEO Tom Leighton ... Burns & Levinson adds cybersecurity and data privacy attorney Peter McLaughlin, ex-DLA Piper, as partner, Intellectual Property Group ... Quantcast adds Steven Wolfe Pereira, ex-Neustar, recently taken private by Golden Gate Capital, as chief marketing and communications officer ... Combined Public Communications inmate phone service provider appoints from Ernst & Young IT Advisory practice Peter Hidalgo as chief commercial officer.
Disney International adds Rebecca Campbell, president-ABC Owned Television Station Group and ABC Daytime, as president-Disney Co. Europe, Middle East and Africa, effective Jan. 1; current President Diego Lerner to return to home in Buenos Aires, where he will be on Disney International management team ... Immersion hires from Telenav Hossam Bahlool as vice president-marketing ... Univision Communications moves up Carolina Nuñez to vice president-regional news director.
FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly hires Deputy Chief of Staff for Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Brooke Ericson as chief of staff, press contact and media adviser, effective Oct. 2, succeeding Robin Colwell, now at House Commerce Committee (see 1705260034) ... FCC's Louis Peraertz returns from Office of General Counsel to office of Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, as senior legal adviser on wireless, international and public safety; Daudeline Meme, wireless, international and public safety legal adviser, leaving Clyburn's office, didn't confirm plans.
Aerospace Industries Association names Eric Fanning, ex-Army secretary, president-CEO, effective Jan. 1; David Melcher now has those roles and is retiring at year's end ... Pandora hires Caitlin Brosseau, ex-eBay, as director-public policy and government relations, new post ... Sidley Austin taps Anthony Gardner, ex-U.S. ambassador to the EU, as senior counsel and member, International Trade and Privacy and Cybersecurity practices ... State Senate confirms Gov. Jerry Brown (D)'s appointments of his aides Martha Guzman Aceves and Clifford Rechtschaffen as California public utilities commissioners until Jan. 1, 2023 ... Cox Media Group promotes to market vice presidents Cathy Gunther for Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Dan Lawrie for Jacksonville, Florida.
Wilkinson Barker hires Jennifer Tatel, ex-FCC (see 1708140032 and this section of the Sept. 11 issue of this publication), as partner, focusing on media, privacy and internet policy ... AMC hires from Fox David Madden as president-original programming, AMC, SundanceTV and AMC Studios ... Sinclair promotes James Grilli to general manager, WKEF Dayton, Ohio, overseeing the broadcaster's provision of services to WRGT-TV Dayton ... Raycom names Bill Poplin, ex-WCTI-TV New Bern, North Carolina, as general manager/general sales manager, WPGX Panama City, Florida ... Simmons Research adds Arbitron alumnus and media industry consultant Brad Bedford as vice president-media sales.
Media Bureau Audio Division Chief Peter Doyle tells us he decided to stop working full time "in foreseeable future" and the FCC is looking for a successor ... Dell EMC Infrastructure Solutions Group President David Goulden to step down at the end of the fiscal year; Jeff Clarke moves to Dell Inc. vice chairman-products and operations ... President's nominations sent to the Senate, including for Walter Copan as undersecretary, Commerce-standards and technology ... With Digital Realty buying DuPont Fabros (see 1709150021), acquiree board members Michael Coke and John Roberts join the acquirer's board.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai names Michael Carowitz, who was deputy Enforcement Bureau chief, as special counsel, Office of the Chairman; Nick Degani, who was senior counsel, became acting general counsel (see 1709080036) ... Arizona Corporation Commissioner Doug Little hired by federal Department of Energy as deputy assistant secretary-intergovernmental and external affairs, effective Oct. 2 ... Retiring from ESPN at year's end: Ed Durso, who has been executive vice president-administration; in January, Chief Counsel Diane Morse assumes Durso's seat on the ESPN board ... Netflix hires Melissa Cobb, ex-Dreamworks, as vice president-kids and family, overseeing the creation and acquisition of series and films for children and families, reporting to Chief Content Officer Ted Sarandos.
Sean Farrell, aide to Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., joins House Communications Subcommittee staff ... Radcom names network virtualization expert David Amzallag, ex-Vodafone, special strategic adviser ... President Donald Trump to nominate Walter Copan, president-CEO of IP Engineering Group, as undersecretary of commerce-standards and technology.