Federal Communications Commission Chairman William Kennard has appointed three new members and three current members of the board of directors of the Universal Service Administrative Committee to new three-year terms on the board. The USAC board will vote on which members participate on the Schools and Libraries Committee when it next meets in January.
The appointees are:
- Rev. William F. Davis, assistant secretary for Catholic schools and public policy of the U.S. Catholic Conference, as a schools representative to the board. Davis will replace Henry Marockie, former state superintendent of schools in West Virginia.
- Kevin Hess, vice president of TDS Telecom, representing incumbent local exchange carriers, other than regional Bell operating companies, with annual operating revenues of over $40 million. Hess, a reappointee, currently holds a seat on the Schools and Libraries Committee.
- Robert Rivera, president of Spectrum Communications, Inc., Corona, CA, and its spinoff, MeshworX, Inc. Hispanic Business magazine named Rivera to its list of the country's "100 Most Influential Hispanics" and reported that 80 percent of his company's clients are public schools. His companies provide networking equipment and end-to-end technology solutions. Rivera will replace David Abramson, who originally worked for 3Com Corp. when he was named to the USAC board.
- Joel Lubin, a vice president of AT&T, representing interexchange carriers with more than $3 billion in annual operating revenues. Lubin is a new appointee to the board.
- Allan Thoms, chairman of the Iowa Utilities Board, representing state telecommunications regulators. Thoms already serves on the board.
- Dr. Jay Sanders, president and CEO, Global Telemedicine Group, representing rural health care providers that are eligible for the rural health care portion of the Universal Service programs.
It is expected that Davis, Rivera and Hess will be named to the Schools and Libraries Committee. When the USAC board was first appointed in fall 1997, certain members were designated as board members of the Schools and Libraries Corporation. When the SLC was folded into USAC in January 1999, those board members became members of USAC's Schools and Libraries Committee.
