CBS Executive Vice President-Planning, Policy and Government Affairs Marty Franks retiring, effective Sept. 30 … Senate confirmed Claire Kelly and Mark Barnett as judges on the U.S. Court of International Trade … Source Photonics hires Doug Wright, ex-United Technologies, as president and CEO, succeeding CEO Near Margalit, named chief product officer, new position at provider of optical communication products for telecom systems and data networks … Neustar hires John Caldwell, ex-National Geographic Society, as vice president-media and new ventures … RLJ Entertainment hires Drew Wilson, ex-Discovery Communications, as chief financial officer, succeeding John Avagliano, who left to pursue other opportunities … Turner Broadcasting System hires Chris Linn, ex-MTV, as truTV president and head of programming … Journal Communications promotes WTVF Nashville President/General Manager Debbie Turner to vice president of the company … Uber hires Andrew Noyes, ex-Facebook and Warren Communications News, to manage communications and be based in San Francisco office, effective June 17.
News Corp. says Mike Darnell, president-alternative entertainment, Fox Broadcasting, decided to leave at end of June … International Datacasting Corp. names Doug Lowther, recently hired from Irdeto as president and CEO, to board … Red Bend Software mobile software device management firm promotes Motoharu Fujimura to country manager for Japan … Lobbying registration: Cyber Secure America Coalition, Vatoca Partners, effective April 16.
Nominations by President Barack Obama sent to Senate: Daniel Sepulveda, ex-aide to then-Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., to be deputy assistant secretary of State for international communications and information policy, and U.S. coordinator for international communications and information policy; Kara Stein for SEC commissioner term expiring June 5, 2017, replacing Elisse Walter, whose term expired; and also to be on SEC Michael Piwowar for term expiring June 5, 2018, replacing Troy Paredes, term expiring … Western Telecommunications Alliance hires Noah Cherry, ex-St. Ledger-Roty Neuman & Olson, as director-government affairs, with focus on video regulation and cybersecurity, effective June 3 … Khosla Ventures hires Benjamin Ling, ex-Badoo, to be member of the venture capital firm’s investment staff … New directors for forthcoming split-up News Corp. are, for the 21st Century Fox broadcast and cable company: Delphine Arnault, Christian Dior; Jacques Nasser, One Equity Partners; Robert Silberman, Strayer Education; and for new News Corp. publishing company: John Elkann, Exor; Ana Paula Pessoa, Brunswick Group; Masroor Siddiqui, Naya Management; and Robert Thomson, to be CEO of that company … Association of Cable Communicators board elections include: Anthony Surratt, Time Warner Cable, as president; Annie Howell, Crown Media, first vice president-membership; Catherine Frymark, Discovery Communications, second vice president-programs; Tom Larsen, Mediacom, secretary; and Brian Dietz, NCTA, treasurer.
Tribune Co. hires Jimmy de Castro, ex-Content Factory, as president/general manager, WGN(AM) Chicago, effective June 3 … Viacom hires Dion Vlachos, ex-Disney, as senior vice president-retail sales and marketing, Nickelodeon, replacing Ron Johnson, recently promoted to executive vice president-Nickelodeon and Viacom consumer products, Viacom International Media Networks … Hearst Television promotes Charles Wolfertz to president/general manager of WTAE-TV Pittsburgh effective June 1, replacing Michael Hayes, previously elevated (CD May 20 p16) … FCC names Betsy Wergin, Minnesota Public Utilities Commission, to Federal-State Joint Board on Jurisdictional Separations, filling slot recently vacated by Phil Montgomery, Wisconsin Public Service Commission … Lobbying registrations: Telecom service provider Innovative Companies, Bingham McCutchen, effective May 20 … Intel, Peck Madigan Jones, effective April 8.
Perkins Coie hires Kimberly Reindl, ex-Akin Gump, as senior counsel in Washington office, where she will advise new-media clients on FCC issues … Tribune Co. hires Shashi Seth, ex-Yahoo, as president of newly formed unit Tribune Digital Ventures … Time Warner Cable promotes Deborah Picciolo to senior vice president-technical operations, residential … Slacker streaming music service hires John Hayase, ex-Elastic Path, as chief product officer … Comcast’s NBC Owned Television Stations promotes Jeff Morris to senior vice president-operations and technology … SQAD TV and radio digital cost-analysis firm promotes Samantha Marlowe to vice president-regional sales … Mformation Software Technologies hires Kevin Wood, ex-Airwide Solutions, as president and CEO, succeeding Todd DeLaughter, who will be a strategic adviser to the mobility management solution provider … Soonr enterprise mobile collaboration service provider hires: Victoria Grey, ex-Nexsan, as chief marketing officer, and Brent Maxwell, formerly of Hewlett-Packard, as vice president-business development … New to board of Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing Educational Foundation are: Matt Bond, NBCUniversal; Coleman Breland, Turner Broadcasting System; and Bill Goetz, Time Warner Cable … Lobbying registration: ZTE, Podesta Group, effective April 4.
U.S. Cellular promotes Grant Spellmeyer to vice president-federal affairs and public policy … Telemundo Media hires David Alvarado, ex-EMI Music/Capitol Latin, as vice president-entertainment publicity … Philip Christopher, ex-Audiovox and UTStarcom, says he will start American Network Solutions, a consulting firm to the telecom industry of which he'll be CEO and president … CTIA adds to board for rest of year as small carrier representatives: Conrad Hunter, nTelos Wireless, and Richard Ruhl, Pioneer Cellular … Among directors of new machine-to-machine association International M2M Council are: Patrick Shay, Orbcomm; Juergen Hase, Deutsche Telekom; and Chris Baker, Oracle.
Comcast’s NBCUniversal hires Deborah Turness, ex-ITV News, as president, NBC News, effective Aug. 5 … Tellabs Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President Andrew Szafran resigns for personal reasons unrelated to the company’s operations, financial reporting or business outlook, replaced as CFO on acting basis by Tom Minichiello, vice president-finance and chief accounting officer … Cablevision hires Frank Mansour, ex-FreshDirect, as executive vice president-customer service, new position … Firetide wireless mesh networking firm hires John McCool, ex-Cisco, as president and CEO.
Senate unanimously confirms Ernest Moniz as Energy secretary … Hearst Television promotes Michael Hayes to senior vice president/group head … Departing FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski names to Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council: Larissa Herda, tw telecom, chairman; and members include Brian Allen, Time Warner Cable; Robert Azzi, Sprint Nextel; Donna Bethea-Murphy, Iridium; Lynn Claudy, NAB; Donna Dodson, National Institute of Standards and Technology; David Donovan, New York State Broadcasters Association; Andy Ellis, Akamai; Brook Fitzsimmons, AT&T; Laurie Flaherty, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; Peter Fonash, Department of Homeland Security; Brian Fontes, National Emergency Number Association; Robert Gessner, American Cable Association; Joseph Lorenzo Hall, Center for Democracy and Technology; Rodney Joffe, Neustar; Brian Josef, CTIA; Omar Khan, NQ Mobile; Brett Kilbourne, Utilities Telecom Council; Alice Lippert, Department of Energy; John Madden, National Emergency Management Association; Kyle Malady, Verizon; Sam Matheny, Capitol Broadcasting; John McCoskey, PBS; Danny McPherson, Verisign; Ann Miles, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; Michael Mosher, T-Mobile USA; Mehran Nazari, Rural Telecommunications Group; Henry Wayne Pacine, Federal Reserve Board of Governors; Mark Paese, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Damon Penn, Federal Emergency Management Agency; Brian Peretti, Treasury Department; Francisco Sánchez Jr., Harris County, Texas, Homeland Security and Emergency Management; William Schully, DirecTV; Bill Smith, PayPal; Gigi Smith, Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials; Myrna Soto, Comcast Cable; Steve Souder, Fairfax County, Va., Department of Public Safety Communications; Dorothy Spears-Dean, Virginia Wireless E-911 Services Board; Rao Vasireddy, Telecommunications Industry Association; Christian Vogler, Deaf and Hard of Hearing Consumer Advocacy Network; Tim Walden, CenturyLink; Geoffrey Why, NARUC; Pamela Witmer, Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission … Mindspeed Technologies adds Fared Adib, Sprint Nextel, to board.
Cablevision promotes James Nuzzo to senior executive vice president-operations and business planning … CBS hires Elizabeth Tumulty, ex-CW Network, as executive vice president-affiliate relations, CBS Television Network … Tribune Co. hires Melanie Hughes, ex-own consulting practice, as executive vice president-human resources … For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology names Don Bossi, ex-Cidra Holdings, president … Entercom hires Steve Sinicropi, ex-Cox Media Group, as vice president/market manager, Greenville, S.C.
News Corp. hires Antoinette Cook Bush, ex-Skadden Arps, as executive vice president and global head-government affairs for the new News Corp. publishing firm to be formed when the company separates into two, effective June 24 … CompTel hires Angie Kronenberg, ex-aide to FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, as chief advocate and general counsel, effective June 3 … U.S. Commerce Department changes effective June 1: General Counsel Cameron Kerry named acting secretary, and National Institute of Standards and Technology Director Patrick Gallagher to be department’s acting deputy secretary, as Acting Secretary Rebecca Blank departs as planned to be chancellor, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Penny Pritzker continues start of confirmation process to be permanent secretary … Cablevision promotes Clifford Harris to senior vice president-law, programming … Liberty Global promotes Robert Dunn to chief financial officer, Virgin Media, once Liberty buys that company, succeeding Eamonn O'Hare, leaving to pursue new opportunities, as Dunn will be replaced as managing director, Liberty’s UPC Netherlands, by Baptiest Coopmans, ex-KPN … Southern California Broadcasters Association names Thom Callahan, ex-Callahan Communications, as president … Aframe cloud video company hires from Sega: Mike Hayes, as chairman; and Gary Knight, chief operating officer … HSN Inc. promotes: Judy Schmeling to chief operating officer and chief financial officer; Michael Attinella to CFO, HSN business, and chief accounting officer, HSNi; Patrick Vonderhaar to CFO, Cornerstone Brands; and to executive vice presidents Rob Solomon for customer care & operations administration, HSNi, and Bob Monti for supply chain & logistics, HSNi … Lobbying registrations: Nokia, Alston & Bird, effective April 1 … Vodafone, Hogan Lovells, effective April 9 … Wireless carrier Continuum 700, Madison Group, effective May 6.