Jean Kiddoo To Oversee Spectrum Repack

The FCC’s Incentive Auction Task Force today named Jean L. Kiddoo as its deputy chair for transition.

Working with task force Chair Gary M. Epstein and Vice Chair Howard Symons, Kiddoo will focus on “planning for and implementing the post-auction transition,” according to the commission.

During the transition period, the FCC will reauthorize and relicense the facilities of broadcast television stations that receive new channel assignments. The transition also involves paying winning reverse auction bidders and administering the $1.75 billion relocation reimbursement fund authorized by Congress.

Like the auction itself, the transition will be an inter-disciplinary effort that involves multiple bureaus and offices within the commission and will span several years. The commission said Kiddoo’s addition to the task force reflects its “increasing attention to the transition now that the auction is underway.”

“I am thrilled that Jean has agreed to join the Task Force leadership,” Epstein said. “As Chairman Wheeler has noted, getting the transition right is as important as getting the auction itself right. Jean will help us ensure that the transition has the focus, attention, and cross-bureau coordination it requires.”

Kiddoo has served as deputy chief of the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau since 2014, in which capacity she has participated on the Incentive Auction Task Force Steering Committee. She has also overseen the bureau’s Auctions, Broadband, and Mobility Divisions and has taken a leadership role in coordinating the commission’s auctions systems, personnel, and resources across the various other bureaus and offices.

Prior to joining the FCC, Kiddoo spent more than three decades in private practice, representing telecommunications, media and technology companies before federal agencies, courts, state regulatory commissions and local authorities nationwide.

She is a graduate of Colgate University and earned her law degree from the Catholic University of America.