Speeding Broadband Deployment by Balancing Rights of Way Interests. Panelists May 30, 2002
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Commissioner Robert B. Nelson
Robert Nelson was originally appointed by Governor John Engler on May 10, 1999. He was subsequently reappointed for a term ending July 2, 2005.
Mr. Nelson served as President of the Michigan Electric and Gas Association from December 1987 until his appointment to the Commission in 1999. From 1979 to 1987, he was Director of the Commission's Office of Regulatory and Consumer Affairs, overseeing the legislative, legal, public affairs and consumer services functions of the Commission. From 1976 to 1979, he served as both Assistant and Deputy Director of Policy at the Commission. From 1974 to 1976, he was an Assistant and, later, Senior Assistant Prosecutor for Ingham County. From 1970 to 1974, he was a trial attorney for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Mr. Nelson serves on the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners' Consumer Affairs Committee and the Telecommunications Committee, of which he is co-vice-chairman.
Mr. Nelson is a member of the North American Numbering Council, an advisory committee to the FCC on numbering issues. He previously served as chairman of the Administrative Law Section of the Michigan Bar Association. He has also served as Chairman of the East Lansing Cable and Telecommunications Commission.
Mr. Nelson received a B.A. in Political Science from Wayne State University (1968), and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School (1970).
The Honorable Marilyn J. Praisner
Marilyn Praisner was elected in 1990, and re-elected in 1994 and 1998, as the District 4 Councilmember. She served as Council President in 1993 and 1997 and as Vice President in 1992 and 1996. Ms. Praisner chairs the County Council's Management and Fiscal Policy Committee and serves on its Health and Human Services Committee.
Known for her outstanding leadership on local as well as state issues, Ms. Praisner was named by Washingtonian Magazine as one of this area's "Most Powerful Women," and was recently included in the Daily Record's "Maryland's Top 100 Women." Montgomery County Business and Professional Women's Club chose her as its 2000 "Woman of the Year." She also received the Charles Willis Award for outstanding school board service from the Maryland Association of Boards of Education.
Ms. Praisner is on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Counties (NACo) and chairs its Telecommunications Subcommittee of the Telecommunications and Technology Steering Committee, which she formerly chaired. She is also a former chair of NACo's Human Services and Education Steering Committee and its Education, Children and Families Subcommittee. Ms. Praisner is also Vice Chair of the Federal Communications Commission's Local and State Government Advisory Committee.
Ms. Praisner represents Montgomery County on the Maryland Association of Counties' (MACo) Legislative Committee and is MACo's second vice president. She was formerly MACo treasurer, secretary and chair of its Education Committee.
Prior to her election to the County Council, Ms. Praisner served on the Montgomery County Board of Education (1982-90), twice as its president (1984 and 1987). She was president of the Maryland Association of Boards of Education and president of the National Federation of Urban-Suburban School Districts.
Ms. Praisner was a Branch Chief and staff member for the Deputy Director of Intelligence for the Central Intelligence Agency during her 16-year career with CIA.
Known for her advocacy on children's issues, Ms. Praisner has served as Second Vice President of the Montgomery County Council of PTAs, on the National Governors Association Intergovernmental Workgroup on Children's Issues, the Board of Directors of the Maryland Congress of Parents and Teachers, the Executive Committee of Children's International Summer Villages and the Montgomery County Drug Abuse Advisory Council.
Ms. Praisner also served on the Board of Directors of Suburban Maryland Fair Housing.
A graduate of Douglass College, Rutgers University with a degree in journalism, Ms. Praisner also completed the paralegal program at the University of Maryland. A 34-year resident of Calverton, she is married to Donald Praisner. They have three children, all of whom graduated from Paint Branch High School, and three grandchildren.
Martin Stern
Marty Stern provides strategic and policy advice to telecommunications and information technology firms and represents these firms before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), State Public Utility Commissions, federal, state and local resource agencies, as well as on antitrust matters. Marty is the former deputy chief of the Competition Division at the FCC and is an authority on competition policy matters involving the nation's telecommunications markets. While at the FCC, he was actively involved in the Commission's implementation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and worked extensively on matters involving local telephone competition and interconnection, cable television, wireless telecommunications and utility company entry into telecommunications.
Marty has served as lead telecom regulatory and land use counsel in connection with numerous domestic and international undersea and terrestrial fiber optic cable projects, as well as on permitting issues associated with the siting and deployment of wireless facilities. Marty also has experience in the assessment of the impacts of cables on marine and terrestrial environments. Marty's experience includes obtaining all permits and approvals required for the siting and deployment of international and cross-border telecommunications facilities, and he has had extensive dealings with the White House, U.S. State Department, the International Boundary and Water Commission, and relevant Congressional committees in connection with such projects. Marty is also one of the founders of I-ROW, the Telecommunications Industry Rights-of-Way Working Group, a coalition of providers and organizations from all sectors of the telecommunications industry committed to eliminating the rights-of-way practices of federal, state, and local governmental entities as a barrier to the deployment of telecommunications facilities. Marty has also participated in agency rulemakings and workshops on telecom facilities deployment, and has been a featured speaker at industry and agency conferences addressing issues associated with the deployment of fiber and wireless facilities. Marty also represents a leading undersea cable provider in connection with the formation of and its participation in an undersea cable industry trade association concerned with environmental and land use issues. Marty is Co-Chair of the Federal Communications Bar Association State and Local Practice Committee, and previously served as Co-Chair of the FCBA Ad Hoc Committee on Telecommunications Competition Issues, and as vice chair of the Communications Committee of the American Bar Association Antitrust Section. Marty also is a member of the Advisory Board for Telecom Land Management Law Report.
Before joining the FCC in 1994, Marty was in private practice in Washington, D.C. for several years and also was a trial attorney in the Communications and Finance Section of the U.S. Justice Department's Antitrust Division.
Alexandra (Sandy) Wilson
Alexandra (Sandy) M. Wilson is Vice President of Public Policy for Cox Enterprises, Inc. Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Cox operates newspapers, cable systems, television and radio stations, local web sites and automobile auctions across the country.
Prior to joining Cox in 1994, Ms. Wilson served as Chief of the Cable Services Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission, where she oversaw implementation of the 1992 Cable Act. While at the Commission, she also served as Legal Advisor to Chairman Al Sikes, Special Assistant to the General Counsel, and Special Assistant to the Chief of the Mass Media Bureau. Ms. Wilson practiced communications law for six years before joining the FCC in 1990, first with the law firm of Crowell & Moring and later with Wiley, Rein & Fielding.
For the past six years, Ms. Wilson has been a Faculty Member for the Practising Law Institute's annual conference on cable television law. She has been an active member of the Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) since 1984, and currently is serving as the Association's secretary. Ms. Wilson is a frequent speaker at conventions and seminars on communications policy issues.
Ms. Wilson has a law degree and a bachelor's degree in communications summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania. Ms. Wilson was admitted to the District of Columbia Bar in 1984.