Building an NTIA to Meet This Historic Moment

Building an NTIA to Meet This Historic Moment

By Alan Davidson, Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information and NTIA Administrator

At NTIA, tech policy is what we do. From connecting everyone in America to the Internet, to managing federal airwaves, to crafting policy for emerging innovations like artificial intelligence systems, our goal is to make sure important technologies are developed in the service of people and progress.

To help reach that goal, I'm pleased to announce key additions to our leadership team.

Shiva Goel will join the Office of the Assistant Secretary as Senior Advisor for Spectrum Policy. He joins NTIA from the Federal Communications Commission, where he served as Legal Advisor to Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. Mr. Goel was previously a partner in the telecom, appellate, and litigation practices of Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis LLP, where he advised on wireless, space policy, and universal service issues.

Francella Ochillo joins NTIA as Director of Public Engagement. Ms. Ochillo is a technology policy expert who specializes in promoting digital citizenship. She comes to NTIA from Georgetown University, where she served as a Technology and Society Fellow. She has served as a non-profit leader, an academic, and an attorney.

These additions are the latest in a series of moves in recent months to bolster our senior staff. Last fall, we announced that Karin O'Leary would serve in a career role as NTIA's first Deputy Assistant Secretary for Operations and Administration. At the same time, we named Sarah Morris as Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, overseeing NTIA's programmatic and policy work. The Office of the Chief Counsel named Sean Conway as Deputy Chief Counsel.

In March, we announced that Sarah Skaluba would join the Office of the Assistant Secretary as Special Policy Advisor, Telecom Policy & Innovation Fund and that Rachel Niemerski was promoted to Deputy Director of the Office of External Affairs. And this month, the Office of Public Affairs named Margaret Harding McGill as Deputy Director.

We continue to seek top-flight candidates for other leadership roles, including a new Chief Financial Officer/Director of Administration, Associate Administrator/Laboratory Director for our Institute for Telecommunication Sciences in Colorado, and Deputy Associate Administrator for Spectrum Management.

These and other key hires continue to prepare NTIA to build a better-connected world now and in the future.