FCC Taps Epstein For Auction Task Force

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski today named Gary Epstein senior adviser to the chairman and co-lead of the Commission’s Incentive Auction Task Force. He will join Ruth Milkman to manage the Task Force and the commission’s implementation of incentive auctions.

Genachowski said in a statement: “I’m very pleased to welcome Gary back to the commission. Gary is one of the country’s top experts on media and communications law and policy, with deep experience in the key areas needed for incentive auctions to succeed. I look forward to putting his management experience and substantive expertise to work as the Incentive Auction Task Force carries out its vital responsibilities to unleash more spectrum for mobile broadband and help address the looming spectrum crunch.”

Epstein has been working in wireless, telecommunications, broadcasting and auctions law and policy in both the public and private sectors for four decades, founding and serving as the global chair of the communications practice group of Latham & Watkins, where he spent more than 25 years.  Most recently, Epstein was the managing director and general counsel of a multi-stakeholder Aspen Institute project on cloud computing and the free flow of information.

Epstein returns to the FCC, having served as Common Carrier Bureau chief under Chairman Mark Fowler, and as the first head of the Digital Television Transition efforts under Acting Chairman Michael Copps. From 1993 to 1995, Epstein was the chairman of the FCC’s Industry Advisory Committee for the 1995 World Radiocommunication Conference.

Epstein graduated from Lehigh University with a B.S. in electrical engineering, with highest honors and earned his Juris Doctor with honors from Harvard Law School.