Davis Wright hires former Counsel-Appellate Litigation, FCC Office of General Counsel Thaila Sundaresan for partner, technology and communications practice ... Department of Agriculture announces Edyael Casaperalta, ex-Amerind, is senior policy adviser, Rural Utilities Service ... Commissioner Shelly Botkin resigns from Texas Public Utility Commission ... Research firm ndp | analytics taps Cato Institute’s Daniel Ikenson as director-policy research ... AI contracting platform LinkSquares appoints Tim Parilla, ex-DraftKings, as chief legal officer, and adds Aternity CEO Bill Hewitt to its board.
Telecom, media and technology consultant Altman Solon hires ex-AT&T FirstNet Chief Operating Officer Robert Sloan as senior adviser and promotes media and digital expert Florian Rapp to director ... Reddit adds Americans for Prosperity's Billy Easley as U.S. policy manager, leading policy and government relations ... Sesame Workshop promotes Wanda Witherspoon to chief diversity, equity and inclusion officer, new position ... Blockchain.com taps its adviser Lane Kasselman, who has been partner at The Messina Group, as its first chief business officer; the cryptocurrency firm's board also adds Messina Group CEO Jim Messina.
Robin Colwell, ex-National Economic Council, ex-FCC and principal of Convergence Strategies, named of counsel to BGR Group ... DoorDash hires Keith Fernandez from TechNet as senior manager-social impact communications ... Cybersecurity Association of Maryland hires nonprofits veteran Tasha Cornish as executive director ... American Tower adds from Nokia Sanjay Goel as executive vice president and president, Asia-Pacific, succeeding Amit Sharma, who as previously planned becomes chairman-Asia-Pacific region and special adviser to CEO Tom Bartlett until Sharma retires July 1.
Association of American Publishers hires Terrence Hart from Copyright Office as general counsel ... Eric Feldman, ex-chief of staff to Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., joins Airbnb as head-federal and international affairs ...Stripe hires Katherine Mooney Carroll from Cleary Gottlieb as global head-policy ... Best Buy hires Janelle McClure from the office of Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, as associate director-government affairs in its Washington office, responsible for advocacy on social justice issues.
President Joe Biden picks Clare Martorana for federal chief information officer and administrator, OMB Office of Electronic Government; she most recently was chief information officer, Office of Personnel Management ... Comcast Advertising hires Pooja Midha from true[X], also former ABC Television Network, as chief growth officer ... Univision appoints Beatriz Pedrosa-Guanche, ex-Apple, as senior vice president-corporate communications; Chief Communications Officer Rosemary Mercedes resigning.
Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) reappoints Chairperson Rebecca Cameron Valcq for another two-year term as chairperson and commissioner, Public Service Commission, and taps Tyler Huebner for six-year term as PSC commissioner; Valcq’s six-year term as commissioner ends in 2025 and Evers named Huebner in March 2020 for rest of term of former Commissioner Michael Huebsch, who retired in February 2020; Valcq doesn't need Senate OK for chairperson slot and Huebner needs Senate nod for his six-year term and "can perform his duties before confirmation," PSC spokesperson emailed us.
Venable hires Yardly Pollas-Kimble, who has been chief of staff to Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., as partner, Legislative and Government Affairs Practice ... Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, hires Lee Lonsberry of KSL NewsRadio as communications director, effective in early April ... Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) names Arthur D'Andrea as chair, Public Utility Commission; D’Andrea was appointed to the PUC in 2017 for a term ending Sept. 1, 2023; he replaces Chairman DeAnn Walker, who resigned after power outages during a massive winter storm (see here) ... Gov. Mike Dunleavy (R) appoints Keith Kurber, ex-Harvest Church pastor, to Regulatory Commission of Alaska for six-year term, a job needing legislative OK, replacing Commissioner Stephen McAlpine, term just ended.
At Shearman & Sterling, ex-DOJ Associate Deputy Attorney General and Senior Adviser-Technology Industries Ryan Shores rejoins as Antitrust and Litigation partner ... Andrew Smith, ex-FTC Consumer Protection Bureau, rejoins Covington & Burling as partner, Advertising and Consumer Protection, Data Privacy and Cybersecurity, and Financial Services practices ... U.S. Department of Agriculture appoints Dewayne Goldmon from National Black Growers Council as senior adviser-racial equity to USDA secretary and Andy Green, ex-Center for American Progress, as senior adviser-fair and competitive markets.
Gibson Dunn partnership elects Barbara Becker as chair and managing partner, effective May 1 and succeeding Ken Doran, who remains a partner; Becker will leave post of co-chair, Mergers and Acquisitions Practice and has represented News Corp., VMware and others ... Precision hires David Plouffe, ex-Uber and who helped start Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, as of counsel ... Colorado Governor’s Office of Information Technology appoints Antonio Martinez, ex-U.S. State Department, as executive director, Colorado Broadband Office.
Twitter hires Neema Guliani from American Civil Liberties Union as head-national security, democracy and civil rights public policy, Americas, and Elizabeth Busby, ex-aide to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., for policy communications team, focused on U.S. public policy, safety policy and elections ... TechNet names Sacramento economic development and public affairs consultant Lia Nitake as deputy executive director-California and Southwest.