As Perry Apelbaum joins DOJ as senior counsel-Antitrust Division from the House Judiciary Committee, Amy Rutkin continues to lead the committee as chief of staff-staff director and taps Aaron Hiller as chief counsel-deputy staff director and promotes John Doty to senior adviser-deputy staff director ... Christine Mailloux, ex-The Utility Reform Network, joins CTC Technology and Energy as principal analyst.

Tejasi Thatte, ex-chief of staff to Rep. Tony Cardenas and ex-NCTA, joins NBCUniversal federal affairs team ... USTelecom names Diana Eisner, ex-Frontier Communications, vice president-policy and advocacy, and Nicole Henry, ex-office of Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., senior director-government affairs; also promotes Hawley Stanton to senior director-government affairs ... John Howes, ex-Wireless Infrastructure Association, becomes counsel and senior policy adviser to Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, with responsibilities including telecom and tech ... New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) appoints Brian Lipman as director-Division of Rate Counsel; he had led it on acting basis after Stefanie Brand retired in September.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey steps down, effective immediately (see 2111290038), will remain on the board until his term expires at 2022 annual meeting; board unanimously appoints Chief Technology Officer Parag Agrawal to succeed Dorsey, and names Bret Taylor its new chair, succeeding Patrick Pichette, who will remain on the board and continue as chair of its audit committee.

Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announces that with California Public Utilities Commission President Marybel Batjer retiring effective ­­­­­Dec. 30, Senior Adviser to the Governor-Energy Alice Reynolds becomes next CPUC president, effective ­­­­­Dec. 31.

FTC Chair Lina Khan adds to Office of Policy Planning: Olivier Sylvain, Meredith Whittaker, Amba Kak and Sarah Myers West to work with the agency’s chief technology officer and technologists in an informal AI Strategy Group; John Kwoka works with "competition economists and attorneys on an updated approach to merger review policies"; Sylvain from Fordham University is senior adviser on technology to the agency's chair; Kwoka is chief economist to the chair and joins from Northeastern University; Whittaker is senior adviser on AI to the chair and from New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering; Kak has similar job and also is from Tandon, as is Myers West, the commission's adviser on AI.

Northrop Grumman board elects Tom Wilson a corporate vice president and president, Space Systems, effective Jan. 1 and succeeding Blake Larson, who plans to retire on Feb. 4; Wilson is sector vice president and general manager, Strategic Space Systems division in Space Systems sector ... Digital Promise hires D’Andre Weaver as its first chief digital equity officer, also overseeing Verizon Innovative Learning Schools program; he was superintendent of Texas' DeSoto Independent School District.

Invariant adds Joel Richard, ex-office of Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., as a director to work on issues including antitrust, intellectual property, emerging technologies and cybersecurity ... AMC Networks promotes Christina Spade to chief operating officer in addition to her current role as chief financial officer ... Viasat moves up Kevin Harkenrider, who has been executive vice president-global operations and chief operations officer, to chief operating officer.

AT&T veteran Michael Balmoris tweets that as "the calendar approaches 2022, I will launch my public affairs/PR consultancy -- Balmoris Group" ... Mercury hires Eric Hersey, ex-House Financial Committee communications director, as a managing director, with clients likely to include tech stakeholders ... TDI appoints to board David Coco of Austin, representing the central region for a four-year term that began Aug. 1, replacing Mark Seeger, and it names Angela Rogers, a former intern, as community relations manager.

Office of Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas, adds Nate Beltran, ex-Dewey Square, as tech policy adviser ... President Joe Biden plans to nominate Dimitri Kusnezov for undersecretary-science and technology, Department of Homeland Security; he's a theoretical physicist at the Department of Energy, working on emerging tech ... FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel announces that Amy Nathan, most recently senior counsel-Office of Economics and Analytics, is retiring.

Telecommunications Industry Association Senior Vice President-Chief Technology Officer Ken Koffman retires, effective at year-end; he helped start TIA QuEST Forum; TIA hires Mike Regan, ex-Aspect Software, as vice president-business performance, and he oversees the forum ... Squire Patton adds for communications practice Gardner Foster as of counsel and Nicole Sherwood, ex-Universal Service Administrative Co., as an associate ... AT&T promotes Megan Ketterer to director-communications and public relations, focusing on policy communications and media relations.