Meredith Attwell Baker, the former Federal Communications commissioner who caused a stir when she left the agency to lobby for Comcast months after the agency approved the NBCUniversal deal, is now headed for the CTIA-The Wireless Association.
Baker’s first day as president and CEO of the wireless lobby will be June 2. She succeeds Steve Largent, who announced last October he would exit the wireless lobby after 11 years.
With her appointment, Baker said she plans to pursue three initiatives to take the CTIA from “good to great” and make the organization the “‘go to’ organization on wireless issues for both industry and government.” Those initiatives are: to place more emphasis on technical and engineering expertise related to spectrum and wireless technologies; work with commercial and government users to produce a viable five-year plan for the future of spectrum usage; and begin to regularly assess how efficiently spectrum is being used.
For the past two years, Baker served as svp of federal government affairs for NBCUniversal in Washington, D.C. She’s also no stranger to the CTIA, having served as its director of congressional affairs from 1998-2000.
The politically-connected Baker is the daughter-in-law of James Baker, the former secretary of state.
