Commerce Department Names Board of Directors for the First Responder Network Authority

Acting U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank appointed twelve of the nation’s leading experts on public safety and wireless broadband communications to serve on the Board of the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet). They are:

1. Tim Bryan, CEO, National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative
2. Charles “Chuck” Dowd, Deputy Chief, New York City Police Department
3. F. Craig Farrill, Wireless telecommunications executive
4. Paul Fitzgerald, Sheriff, Story County, Iowa
5. Samuel “Sam” Ginn, Telecommunications executive
6. Jeffrey Johnson, Fire Chief (retired); former Chair, State Interoperability Council, State of Oregon; CEO, Western Fire Chiefs Association
7. William Keever, Telecommunications executive (retired)
8. Kevin McGinnis, Chief/CEO, North East Mobile Health Services
9. Ed Reynolds, Telecommunications executive (retired)
10. Susan Swenson, Telecommunications/technology executive
11. Teri Takai, Government information technology expert; former CIO, states of Michigan and California
12. Wellington Webb, Founder, Webb Group International; former Mayor, Denver, Colorado

Ginn will serve as the Chairman of the FirstNet Board.

FirstNet is congressionally mandated to establish a nationwide wireless broadband network that enables police, firefighters, emergency services personnel, and others in public safety to better communicate with one another during emergencies and use new technology to improve response time, keep communities safe, and save lives. The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012, signed into law in February 2012, created FirstNet, an independent authority within Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Congress directed that FirstNet be run by a 15-person Board of Directors, with the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Attorney General, and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget named as permanent members of the Board. Congress charged the Secretary of Commerce with selecting the remaining 12 members.