Roddy Takes Helm of NTIA in Trump's Final Days

Carolyn Roddy is now listed as acting chief of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration following previous acting Administrator Adam Candeub’s jump to the Justice Department. Roddy marks the fourth acting chief for the Commerce Department telecom agency since the departure of David Redl, Trump’s only Senate-confirmed head of the agency (other acting chiefs included Diane Rinaldo and Doug Kinkoph). Roddy joined NTIA as a senior adviser and then acting deputy to Candeub in 2020 and was also briefly under consideration this summer for the Federal Communications Commissioner role that her former NTIA colleague Nathan Simington ultimately secured. One of her principal duties was helping Candeub usher through his petition to the FCC seeking a rulemaking narrowing the scope of Section 230. Expect Roddy’s tenure to be brief given Democrats sweeping into power on Jan. 20.

She has extensive experience as a telecommunications attorney, including work representing a wide range of clients in private law practice, at the Federal Communications Commission Wireline Competition, Wireless, Enforcement and Office of Legislative Affairs, as counsel at Sprint Communications, and as Director of Regulatory Affairs at the Satellite Industry Association. She most recently served as Senior Rural Broadband Advisor at the US Department of Agriculture Rural Utilities Service where she represented the department on the American Broadband Initiative and in establishing the FCC Precision Agriculture Task Force. A graduate of the University of Georgia Journalism and Law Schools, she lives in Marietta (GA) and Alexandria (VA). She has served on the Boards of Directors of the Georgia Technology Authority and Georgia Department of Drivers Services and is currently a member of the University of Georgia Board of Visitors.