FCC’s Wheeler Remarks to Mid-Atlantic Venture Association

One of the things that has struck me about being Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is how similar it is to the job of a [venture capitalist], or the job of a growth company CEO. Like being a VC, the most challenging and exciting part about my job is confronting the impact of new technologies that create entirely changed circumstances for American consumers and businesses. And, like a CEO, the buck stops here. I am grateful that I have four other commissioners with whom to work, but by statute I am the CEO of an agency charged with the responsibility of overseeing industries that make up approximately one-sixth of the US economy. As you know, the job of a CEO is to decide. In your case, it is decisions to optimize return for your stakeholders. In my case it is to maximize for the ill-defined and often vague multi-faceted concept of the “public interest.”