Blair Levin

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Blair Levin

Levin in 2012
Born ( 1954-01-23) January 23, 1954
Alma mater Yale College
Yale Law School
Occupation Telecommunications Lawyer
Known for National Broadband Plan

Blair Steven Levin (born 1954) is an American lawyer who develops government policy and advises investors on telecommunications.[1]

Life

Blair Steven Levin was born on January 23, 1954 in Los Angeles.[2][3] Levin graduated summa cum laude from Yale College and from Yale Law School in 1980.[4][5] He worked on the 1982 campaign of Mayor Tom Bradley's unsuccessful run for California governor and disputes the so-called Bradley Effect. From 1984 through 1993, he was a lawyer with Parker, Poe, Adams and Bernstein in Raleigh, North Carolina, representing both telecommunications companies, as well as local governments.[4]

During the Presidency of Bill Clinton Levin was chief of staff to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) chairman Reed Hundt from 1993 to 1997.[6] From 2001 through 2008, he worked as a policy analyst for investment firm Legg Mason and then was managing director at Stifel Nicolaus by 2006. Barron’s Magazine noted that as an analyst, Levin “has always been on top of developing trends and policy shifts in media and telecommunications … and has proved visionary in getting out in front of many of today’s headline making events.”[7]

In 2008, he co-chaired the technology, innovation and government reform transition team for President-elect Barack Obama and subsequently served as the executive director for the effort that produced the National Broadband Plan from 2009 to 2010.[8][9] Some observers credited him with the lack of FCC enforcement of competition for large telecommunication corporations.[10]

Along with former FCC Chairman Reed Hundt, Levin authored The Politics of Abundance: How Technology Can Fix the Budget, Revive the American Dream, and Establish Obama's Legacy.[11] Awards for his work include 2011 “Visionary of the Year” from Computers for Youth[12] and 2012 “Community Broadband Visionary of the Year” from the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors.[13]

In May 2010 he left the FCC and became a fellow at the Communications and Society program of the Aspen Institute.[6][14] Starting in 2011, he was executive director of the Gig.U project, a consortium of 29 research university communities seeking to accelerate the deployment of next generation networks in the United States.[15] The project led to a number of communities obtaining new networks, such as the Gigabit Squared project.[16][17]

References

  1. ↑ "ARNIC Speaker Series: Blair Levin, The Aspen Institute". November 2010. Retrieved July 6, 2013. 
  2. ↑ "Blair Levin". Who Runs Gov web page. Washington Post. Retrieved July 7, 2013. 
  3. ↑ "Blair Steven Levin - #98687". State Bar of California. Retrieved July 7, 2013. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Blair Levin". Biography of Communications and Society Program Fellow. Aspen Institute. Retrieved July 7, 2013. 
  5. ↑ "Class Secretaries List". Yale law school. Retrieved July 7, 2013. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Broadband Plan Leader Blair Levin to Join Aspen Institute". Radio World. April 20, 2010. Retrieved July 6, 2013. 
  7. ↑ Sandra Ward (October 30, 2006). "What to Watch in Telecom: Blair Levin, Managing Director, Stifel Nicolaus". Barron's. Retrieved July 7, 2013. 
  8. ↑ Lindsey Sutphin (June 23, 2010). "Aspen Institute Communications and Society Fellow Blair Levin Gives Insight to National Broadband Plan". Broadband Brekfast. Retrieved July 30, 2011. 
  9. ↑ Blair Levin (2009). "Author Archive: Blair Levin". Official US Broadband plan blog. Retrieved July 30, 2011. 
  10. ↑ Karl Bode (March 2, 2010). "FCC Afraid To Tackle Open Access: Broadband plan architect believes there's 'no appetite' for it. Wait, what?". Broadband DSL Reports. Retrieved July 6, 2013. 
  11. ↑ The Politics of Abundance: How Technology Can Fix the Budget, Revive the American Dream, and Establish Obama's Legacy. Odyssey Editions. November 12, 2012. ASIN B00A4OAH5U. 
  12. ↑ "Genachowski Presents "Visionary Of The Year" Award To Blair Levin". FCC. June 16, 2011. Retrieved July 7, 2013. 
  13. ↑ "NATOA Announces Recipients of 2012 Community Broadband Awards for Outstanding Broadband Endeavors". News release (NATOA). September 13, 2012. Retrieved July 7, 2013. 
  14. ↑ Karl Bode (April 16, 2010). "Blair Levin Leaving The FCC: Heads to think tank now that the broadband plan is done...". Broadband DSL Reports. Retrieved July 6, 2013. 
  15. ↑ John Markoff (July 27, 2011). "Colleges Join Plan for Faster Computer Networks". New York Times. Retrieved July 6, 2013. 
  16. ↑ Larry Downes (August 6, 2012). "On One Year Anniversary, Gig.U Delivers Impressive Results and Valuable Lessons for Gigabit Internet". Forbes. Retrieved July 7, 2013. 
  17. ↑ John Markoff (May 22, 2012). "Partnership to Bring Ultrahigh-Speed Internet to Six Communities". New York Times. Retrieved July 7, 2013. 
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