Levin, Genachowski To Develop Tech Policy For Obama

The Obama transition team has named the heads of a series of working groups to "develop the priority policy proposals and plans from the Obama Campaign for action during the Obama-Biden Administration."

Named to lead the Technology, Innovation and Government Reform working group are two familiar names in communications circles: Julius Genachowski and Blair Levin, both former top aides to Democratic FCC chairman Reed Hundt, and both said to be in the hunt for that post themselves. Also named to head that group was Sonal Shah of Google.

Levin, former chief of staff to Hundt, is currently managing director of Stifel Nicolaus, while Genchowski, former Hundt chief Counsel, is co-founder of investor Rock Creek Ventures and Launchbox Digital.

Obama is expected to emphasize tech policy, including advocating network neutrality legislation, technological solutions to media content control, and creating a tech czar post, which Genachowski could also be in line for.

The transition team last week named the FCC agency review team leaders: Susan Crawford, a law professor at the University of Michigan and former partner at DC communications firm Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering (Wilmer Hale); and Kevin Werbach an assistant professor of legal studies and business ethics at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.