Federal Communications Commission (FCC) wireless head Roger Sherman, a driving force behind the US$45bn AWS-3 spectrum auction and upcoming broadcast incentive auction, is set to leave at the end of the month. Jon Wilkins, the watchdog’s managing director, will replace him at the helm of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) wireless head Roger Sherman, a driving force behind the US$45bn AWS-3 spectrum auction and upcoming broadcast incentive auction, is set to leave at the end of the month.
Sherman, who joined the commission in 2013 after several years with Congress in senior policy and legal roles, will be replaced by Jon Wilkins, currently the FCC’s managing director, the watchdog said in a statement.
Commenting on Sherman’s departure, FCC chairman Tom Wheeler said: “His expertise and leadership in protecting the open internet, streamlining infrastructure deployment, helping establish the historic, market-based spectrum reserve, and playing key roles in vitally important spectrum policy initiatives – from the historic AWS-3 auction to the broadcast incentive auction to our work on 5G – will have a lasting impact.”
Wheeler said Wilkins, the incoming chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, has been invaluable as COO and advisor, leading modernisation plans in the E-rate and Lifeline programmes, and cooperating with the Incentive Auction Task Force on preparations for the incentive auction, set to begin in late March.
Wilkins also joined the FCC in 2013, as COO and the chairman’s advisor for management. He previously spent 16 years at McKinsey & Company in Washington, DC where he was a partner and leader in the TMT practice. He holds a law degree from Yale Law School and a bachelor’s from Dartmouth College.
Mark Stephens, the FCC’s CFO since 2006, will take on the role of acting managing director. He has held several senior management positions at the commission and, before that, served as a controller in the private sector. He has a bachelor’s degree from Loyola College and a master’s from the George Washington University.
