NCTA appoints Rick Chessen to regulatory policy post

When FCC commissioner Michael Copps announced yesterday that his top aide Rick Chessen, who served as the Acting Chief of Staff of the FCC from January to June this year, was going to leave his legal adviser post, he joked that ‘perhaps he did too good a job and thereby attracted covetous looks from many outside government!' Well, The National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) thinks so as the agency has appointed Chessen as senior vice president of law and regulatory policy. Chessen will replace Dan Brenner, who left the NCTA to become a partner at the law firm of Hogan & Hartson. Reporting to NCTA president and CEO Kyle McSlarrow, Chessen officially joins the NCTA on Sept. 8.

In addition to his legal experience at various law firms, Chessen spent more than 14 years with the FCC, beginning in 1994 as a senior attorney in the agency's Cable Services Buerau. More recently, Chessen served as the FCC's Acting Chief of Staff when Copps was named the acting chairman of the FCC. When Julius Genachowski became FCC chairman in July, Chessen became Copps' senior legal adviser.

"I congratulate Rick Chessen on his appointment to an important private sector position," said Copps in a statement. "Its gain is our loss. Rick has a most distinguished record of public service, capped by a stellar performance as acting chief of staff of the FCC from January-June of this year."

For more:
- Multichannel News has this article

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