Senior Counsel, FCC
For the past four years, Mr. Degani has served as Commissioner Pai's Wireline Legal Advisor. He joined the office from a detail to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, where he served as counsel under Chairman Fred Upton and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden. Before his detail, Mr. Degani served as an Attorney Advisor in the Wireline Competition Bureau's Telecommunications Access Policy Division and Competition Policy Division, as well as the Commission's Office of General Counsel. Mr. Degani entered the Commission through the Attorney Honors Program. Earlier in his career, Mr. Degani clerked for Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School and magna cum laude from Yale University, where he studied Electrical Engineering/Computer Science and History.
Partner, DeMarco Law, PLLC
Joseph V. DeMarco is a partner at DeMarco Law, PLLC where he focuses on counseling clients on complex issues involving information privacy and security, theft of intellectual property, computer intrusions, on-line fraud, and the lawful use of new technology. His years of experience in private practice and in government handling the most difficult cybercrime investigations handled by the United States Attorney’s Office have made him one of the nation’s most sought-after lawyers on Internet crime and the law relating to emerging technologies. In addition to his counsel practice, Mr. DeMarco serves as an Arbitrator, resolving complex commercial and high-technology disputes between businesses. He is on the National Panel of Neutrals of the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and Federal Arbitration, Inc. (FedArb).
From 1997 to 2007, Mr. DeMarco served an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he founded and headed the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIPs) Program, a group of five prosecutors dedicated to investigating and prosecuting violations of federal cybercrime laws and intellectual property offenses. Under his leadership, CHIPs prosecutions grew from a trickle in 1997 to a top priority of the United States Attorney’s Office, encompassing all forms of criminal activity affecting e-commerce and critical infrastructures including computer hacking crimes; transmission of Internet worms and viruses; electronic theft of trade secrets; illegal use of “spyware”; web-based frauds; unlawful Internet gambling; and criminal copyright and trademark infringement offenses. As a recognized thought leader in the field, Mr. DeMarco was frequently asked to counsel prosecutors and law enforcement agents regarding novel investigative and surveillance techniques and methodologies, and regularly provided advice to the United States Attorney concerning the Office’s most sensitive computer-related investigations. In 2001, Mr. DeMarco also served as a visiting Trial Attorney at the Department of Justice Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section in Washington, D.C., where he focused his work on Internet privacy, gaming, and theft of intellectual property.
Since 2002, Mr. DeMarco has served as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Law School, where he teaches the upper-class Internet and Computer Crimes seminar. He has been invited to speak throughout the world on cybercrime, e-commerce, and IP enforcement. He has lectured on the subject of cybercrime at Harvard Law School, the Practicing Law Institute, the National Advocacy Center, and at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and has served as an instructor on cybercrime to judges attending the New York State Judicial Institute.
Prior to joining the United States Attorney’s Office, Mr. DeMarco was a litigation associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York City, where he concentrated his work on intellectual property, antitrust, and securities law issues for various high-technology clients. Prior to that, Mr. DeMarco served as law clerk to the Honorable J. Daniel Mahoney, United States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
Mr. DeMarco holds a J.D. magna cum laude from New York University School of Law. At NYU he was a member of the NYU Law Review. He received his B.S.F.S. summa cum laude from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
Director, Cybersecurity, USTelecom
Paul Eisler coordinates a variety of cybersecurity and technology objectives, including legal and policy analysis, for USTelecom, the Communications Sector Coordinating Council (CSCC), and the Council to Secure the Digital Economy (CSDE).
Associate Administrator, Office of Telecommunications and Information Applications, performing the non-exclusive functions and duties of the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Department of Commerce
Doug Kinkoph is Associate Administrator of NTIA’s Office of Telecommunications and Applications, performing the non-exclusive functions and duties of the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information. Kinkoph joined the Department of Commerce in 2010 and has served in a number of roles, most recently as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary where he worked on issues including spectrum management, broadband, and public safety communications.
While serving as head of the Office of Telecommunications and Applications, Kinkoph created the agency’s BroadbandUSA program, which works to promote broadband deployment and adoption across communities nationwide. He also oversaw a $4 billion broadband grant program that funded the deployment of broadband infrastructure, public computer centers, sustainable adoption of broadband service, and statewide broadband planning.
Before joining the Department of Commerce, Kinkoph held multiple executive roles in the communications industry as well as in the public and private sectors as a telecommunications policy expert. He served as Vice President of Operations at Soundpath Conferencing where he was responsible for all sales, marketing, and customer service operations. His private sector experience also includes serving in senior regulatory and policy roles at XO Communications, Nextlink, and LCI.
Kinkoph earned his M.A. in Administration from Central Michigan University and his B.S. in Telecommunication Management from Ohio University.
U.S. Amb. and Head of Delegation to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Radiocommunication Conference 2019
Ambassador Grace Koh is the U.S. Ambassador and Head of Delegation to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC -19). She also serves as a Special Advisor for International Communications and Information Policy in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs.
Prior to joining the State Department in 2019, Ambassador Koh was a partner in DLA Piper LLP’s telecommunications group, where she represented technology and telecommunications companies before Congress and government agencies.
Before joining DLA Piper, she served as Special Assistant to the President for Technology, Telecom, and Cybersecurity Policy at the National Economic Council, coordinating policy and advising the White House on these matters. Ambassador Koh also previously served as Deputy Chief Counsel to the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology in the U.S. House of Representatives. In this role, she advised the chair and committee members on policy and legal issues arising in the telecommunications and technology sectors.
Ambassador Koh was previously Policy Counsel at Cox Enterprises, Inc.’s Public Policy Office, working on technology policies affecting the Cox Enterprise’s Internet, cable, and broadcast properties. Ambassador Koh began at Cox Enterprises after working in the communications group at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP.
Ambassador Koh received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Humanities from Yale University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Partner, HWG LLP
Patricia Paoletta is a partner with the law firm of HWG LLP, where she specializes in telecommunications, trade and technology policy. Ms. Paoletta provides advice on regulatory, trade and legislative policy to clients before the FCC, Congress and the Administration. Her clients include providers of content, cloud, mobile broadband, VoIP, international telecommunications, small cells, cognitive radio, public safety and homeland security solutions. She serves on Advisory Boards for several entities engaged in information services, communications and technology.
Ms. Paoletta has accrued considerable experience with telecommunications trade and policy in the public sector. From 1990 to 1995, she was senior advisor to the International Bureau Chief and Office Director at the Federal Communications Commission. In the mid 1990s, Ms. Paoletta served as Director of Telecommunications Trade Policy in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Executive Office of the President, where she worked on the WTO Information Technology Agreement (ITA) and the Basic Telecommunications Agreement. After USTR, Ms. Paoletta served as Majority Counsel to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. She then moved to Level 3 Communications, as Vice President, Government Relations.
Ms. Paoletta is on the Steering Committee of the Transatlantic Roundtable on Telecommunications and Information Technology of the European Institute. She is a member of the USTR Alumni Association, Washington International Trade Association, the Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA), and Women in Technology. Ms. Paoletta has served on the Board of Advisors for the Inter-American Dialogue's Latin America Telecom Advisor, Co-Chairman of the American Bar Association International Communications Committee, and as a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Technology Policy Committee.
Ms. Paoletta served as a delegate in 2012 to the ITU-R's Study Group 6 Working Party 6A Meeting and in 2009 and 2010 to the ITU-R's Study Group I Working Party IB Meetings; the 2009 meetings of CITEL (the Committee on International Telecommunications at the Organization of American States) PCC-II; the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Telecommunications Standards Assembly (2000); the ITU Internet Protocol Telephony Experts Group and the ITU World Telecommunications Policy Forum in 2001; as Chairman of the National Reliability and Interoperability Council (NRIC) Steering Committee (2000-2001); as Board Member for the Voice on the Net Coalition (2001); as Co-Chairman of the FCBA's Annual Seminar Committee (2009-2011); as a member of the FCBA's Ad Hoc Speakers Committee (2006-2007); as Co-Chairman for the FCBA International Practice Committee (2001-2002 and 2005-2006); and as a Co-Chairman of the FCBA Legislative Practice Committee (1999-2000).
Chief, International Bureau, Federal Communications Commission
Thomas Sullivan is Chief of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) International Bureau, which represents the FCC in international meetings and oversees the licensing and policy activities for international telecommunications services and satellite services.
From March 2010 to January 2017, Mr Sullivan served as the Chief of Staff for the International Bureau, where he coordinated International activities within the FCC and advanced the FCC’s international representation within the US Government and at international events.
He joined the FCC in 1991 after receiving his Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the University of Michigan.
Adjunct Professor, George Washington University
Howard W. Cox is a former federal prosecutor, criminal investigator and Senior Intelligence Service officer. After almost 40 years of federal service, he retired as the Assistant Inspector General for Investigations of the Central Intelligence Agency. In this capacity, Mr. Cox supervised criminal, civil and administrative investigations conducted by the Office of Inspector General (OIG). Prior to his employment with the CIA, Mr. Cox was the Assistant Deputy Chief of the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section of the Department of Justice, where he was responsible for supervising criminal prosecutions of federal hacking and identity theft cases. While at the Department of Justice, Mr. Cox received the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award.
Prior to his service with the Department of Justice, Mr. Cox served as a manager, attorney and criminal investigator at OIG offices at the US Postal Service, the Department of Defense, and the General Services Administration. He also served as Staff Counsel for the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Prior to his federal civilian service, Mr. Cox was also a Captain and trial attorney in the US Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Mr. Cox also served as Law Secretary to the Hon. Sherwin D. Lester, NJ Superior Court.
Mr. Cox is an adjunct professor at George Washington University, where he teaches graduate level courses in computer forensics. He is also an instructor with the Graduate School USA, and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, where he teaches courses related to procurement fraud and electronic search and seizure. Mr. Cox received his AB degree from Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ. He received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, DC.
Distinguished Fellow, Hudson Institute
Christopher DeMuth is a distinguished fellow at Hudson Institute. He was president of the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI) from 1986 to 2008 and was the D.C. Searle Senior Fellow at AEI from 2008 to 2011.
Mr. DeMuth was raised in Kenilworth, Illinois, and attended the Lawrenceville School (1964), Harvard College (A.B. 1968), and the University of Chicago Law School (J.D. 1973). He served as staff assistant to President Richard M. Nixon from 1969 to 1970, working first for Daniel P. Moynihan (then assistant to the President for Urban Affairs) on urban policy matters and then as chairman of the White House Task Force on Environmental Policy. Following law school, he practiced regulatory, antitrust, and general corporate law with Sidley & Austin in Chicago (1973-1976) and was associate general counsel of the Consolidated Rail Corporation (Conrail) in Philadelphia (1976-1977).
From 1977 to 1981, Mr. DeMuth was lecturer in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and director of the Harvard Faculty Project on Regulation. There he taught courses on law, economics, and regulatory policy and conducted and sponsored research on health, safety, environmental, and economic regulation.
Returning to Washington in 1981, Mr. DeMuth served as administrator for information and regulatory affairs in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, and as executive director of the Presidential Task Force on Regulatory Relief during President Ronald Reagan’s first term of office. From 1984 to 1986, he was managing director of Lexecon Inc., a law-and-economics consulting firm; in 1986, he was also publisher and editor-in-chief of Regulation magazine. He was elected president of the American Enterprise Institute in December 1986.
Many of Mr. DeMuth’s articles, lectures, and occasional talks are posted on his website (https://www.ccdemuth.com).
Senior Counsel, FCC
For the past four years, Mr. Degani has served as Commissioner Pai's Wireline Legal Advisor. He joined the office from a detail to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, where he served as counsel under Chairman Fred Upton and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg Walden. Before his detail, Mr. Degani served as an Attorney Advisor in the Wireline Competition Bureau's Telecommunications Access Policy Division and Competition Policy Division, as well as the Commission's Office of General Counsel. Mr. Degani entered the Commission through the Attorney Honors Program. Earlier in his career, Mr. Degani clerked for Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. He graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School and magna cum laude from Yale University, where he studied Electrical Engineering/Computer Science and History.
Partner, DeMarco Law, PLLC
Joseph V. DeMarco is a partner at DeMarco Law, PLLC where he focuses on counseling clients on complex issues involving information privacy and security, theft of intellectual property, computer intrusions, on-line fraud, and the lawful use of new technology. His years of experience in private practice and in government handling the most difficult cybercrime investigations handled by the United States Attorney’s Office have made him one of the nation’s most sought-after lawyers on Internet crime and the law relating to emerging technologies. In addition to his counsel practice, Mr. DeMarco serves as an Arbitrator, resolving complex commercial and high-technology disputes between businesses. He is on the National Panel of Neutrals of the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and Federal Arbitration, Inc. (FedArb).
From 1997 to 2007, Mr. DeMarco served an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he founded and headed the Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property (CHIPs) Program, a group of five prosecutors dedicated to investigating and prosecuting violations of federal cybercrime laws and intellectual property offenses. Under his leadership, CHIPs prosecutions grew from a trickle in 1997 to a top priority of the United States Attorney’s Office, encompassing all forms of criminal activity affecting e-commerce and critical infrastructures including computer hacking crimes; transmission of Internet worms and viruses; electronic theft of trade secrets; illegal use of “spyware”; web-based frauds; unlawful Internet gambling; and criminal copyright and trademark infringement offenses. As a recognized thought leader in the field, Mr. DeMarco was frequently asked to counsel prosecutors and law enforcement agents regarding novel investigative and surveillance techniques and methodologies, and regularly provided advice to the United States Attorney concerning the Office’s most sensitive computer-related investigations. In 2001, Mr. DeMarco also served as a visiting Trial Attorney at the Department of Justice Computer Crimes and Intellectual Property Section in Washington, D.C., where he focused his work on Internet privacy, gaming, and theft of intellectual property.
Since 2002, Mr. DeMarco has served as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Law School, where he teaches the upper-class Internet and Computer Crimes seminar. He has been invited to speak throughout the world on cybercrime, e-commerce, and IP enforcement. He has lectured on the subject of cybercrime at Harvard Law School, the Practicing Law Institute, the National Advocacy Center, and at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, and has served as an instructor on cybercrime to judges attending the New York State Judicial Institute.
Prior to joining the United States Attorney’s Office, Mr. DeMarco was a litigation associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York City, where he concentrated his work on intellectual property, antitrust, and securities law issues for various high-technology clients. Prior to that, Mr. DeMarco served as law clerk to the Honorable J. Daniel Mahoney, United States Circuit Judge for the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
Mr. DeMarco holds a J.D. magna cum laude from New York University School of Law. At NYU he was a member of the NYU Law Review. He received his B.S.F.S. summa cum laude from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University.
Director, Cybersecurity, USTelecom
Paul Eisler coordinates a variety of cybersecurity and technology objectives, including legal and policy analysis, for USTelecom, the Communications Sector Coordinating Council (CSCC), and the Council to Secure the Digital Economy (CSDE).
Associate Administrator, Office of Telecommunications and Information Applications, performing the non-exclusive functions and duties of the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, Department of Commerce
Doug Kinkoph is Associate Administrator of NTIA’s Office of Telecommunications and Applications, performing the non-exclusive functions and duties of the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information. Kinkoph joined the Department of Commerce in 2010 and has served in a number of roles, most recently as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary where he worked on issues including spectrum management, broadband, and public safety communications.
While serving as head of the Office of Telecommunications and Applications, Kinkoph created the agency’s BroadbandUSA program, which works to promote broadband deployment and adoption across communities nationwide. He also oversaw a $4 billion broadband grant program that funded the deployment of broadband infrastructure, public computer centers, sustainable adoption of broadband service, and statewide broadband planning.
Before joining the Department of Commerce, Kinkoph held multiple executive roles in the communications industry as well as in the public and private sectors as a telecommunications policy expert. He served as Vice President of Operations at Soundpath Conferencing where he was responsible for all sales, marketing, and customer service operations. His private sector experience also includes serving in senior regulatory and policy roles at XO Communications, Nextlink, and LCI.
Kinkoph earned his M.A. in Administration from Central Michigan University and his B.S. in Telecommunication Management from Ohio University.
U.S. Amb. and Head of Delegation to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Radiocommunication Conference 2019
Ambassador Grace Koh is the U.S. Ambassador and Head of Delegation to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Radiocommunication Conference 2019 (WRC -19). She also serves as a Special Advisor for International Communications and Information Policy in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs.
Prior to joining the State Department in 2019, Ambassador Koh was a partner in DLA Piper LLP’s telecommunications group, where she represented technology and telecommunications companies before Congress and government agencies.
Before joining DLA Piper, she served as Special Assistant to the President for Technology, Telecom, and Cybersecurity Policy at the National Economic Council, coordinating policy and advising the White House on these matters. Ambassador Koh also previously served as Deputy Chief Counsel to the Subcommittee on Communications and Technology in the U.S. House of Representatives. In this role, she advised the chair and committee members on policy and legal issues arising in the telecommunications and technology sectors.
Ambassador Koh was previously Policy Counsel at Cox Enterprises, Inc.’s Public Policy Office, working on technology policies affecting the Cox Enterprise’s Internet, cable, and broadcast properties. Ambassador Koh began at Cox Enterprises after working in the communications group at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP.
Ambassador Koh received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Humanities from Yale University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
Partner, HWG LLP
Patricia Paoletta is a partner with the law firm of HWG LLP, where she specializes in telecommunications, trade and technology policy. Ms. Paoletta provides advice on regulatory, trade and legislative policy to clients before the FCC, Congress and the Administration. Her clients include providers of content, cloud, mobile broadband, VoIP, international telecommunications, small cells, cognitive radio, public safety and homeland security solutions. She serves on Advisory Boards for several entities engaged in information services, communications and technology.
Ms. Paoletta has accrued considerable experience with telecommunications trade and policy in the public sector. From 1990 to 1995, she was senior advisor to the International Bureau Chief and Office Director at the Federal Communications Commission. In the mid 1990s, Ms. Paoletta served as Director of Telecommunications Trade Policy in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Executive Office of the President, where she worked on the WTO Information Technology Agreement (ITA) and the Basic Telecommunications Agreement. After USTR, Ms. Paoletta served as Majority Counsel to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. She then moved to Level 3 Communications, as Vice President, Government Relations.
Ms. Paoletta is on the Steering Committee of the Transatlantic Roundtable on Telecommunications and Information Technology of the European Institute. She is a member of the USTR Alumni Association, Washington International Trade Association, the Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA), and Women in Technology. Ms. Paoletta has served on the Board of Advisors for the Inter-American Dialogue's Latin America Telecom Advisor, Co-Chairman of the American Bar Association International Communications Committee, and as a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's Technology Policy Committee.
Ms. Paoletta served as a delegate in 2012 to the ITU-R's Study Group 6 Working Party 6A Meeting and in 2009 and 2010 to the ITU-R's Study Group I Working Party IB Meetings; the 2009 meetings of CITEL (the Committee on International Telecommunications at the Organization of American States) PCC-II; the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Telecommunications Standards Assembly (2000); the ITU Internet Protocol Telephony Experts Group and the ITU World Telecommunications Policy Forum in 2001; as Chairman of the National Reliability and Interoperability Council (NRIC) Steering Committee (2000-2001); as Board Member for the Voice on the Net Coalition (2001); as Co-Chairman of the FCBA's Annual Seminar Committee (2009-2011); as a member of the FCBA's Ad Hoc Speakers Committee (2006-2007); as Co-Chairman for the FCBA International Practice Committee (2001-2002 and 2005-2006); and as a Co-Chairman of the FCBA Legislative Practice Committee (1999-2000).
Chief, International Bureau, Federal Communications Commission
Thomas Sullivan is Chief of the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) International Bureau, which represents the FCC in international meetings and oversees the licensing and policy activities for international telecommunications services and satellite services.
From March 2010 to January 2017, Mr Sullivan served as the Chief of Staff for the International Bureau, where he coordinated International activities within the FCC and advanced the FCC’s international representation within the US Government and at international events.
He joined the FCC in 1991 after receiving his Master’s Degree in Public Policy from the University of Michigan.
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