Broadband: Should All Providers Be Regulated the Same? Panelists April 18, 2002
Overview | Video | Biographies | One Pagers
Susan Lynner, Sr. Vice President
Prudential Securities Washington Research Office (Moderator)
Susan A. Lynner is a Senior Vice President in the Washington Research Office of Prudential Securities. Established in 1983, the Prudential Securities Washington Research team of seasoned political analysts offers institutional investors a broad perspective on federal legislative, regulatory and judicial developments affecting individual companies and industries. Prudential's Washington Research Office placed first in Institutional Investor's All-American Research Team poll for Washington Research for seven consecutive years following the creation of the II political coverage category, and second in 2001.
Susan covers legislative, regulatory, and judicial developments in the field of telecommunications, including the wireline, wireless, cable, media, and satellite communications industries. She also keeps an eye on major international trade negotiations and sectoral disputes of interest to institutional investors. Susan joined Prudential Securities in September 1986. Prior to joining Prudential's Washington Research Office, Susan worked as a consultant on trade policy for the Fortune 500 clients of the Washington consulting firm Newmyer Associates and on technology transfer issues at the Commerce Department's International Trade Administration.
Billy Jack Gregg, Director of the Consumer Advocate Division
West Virginia Public Service Commission
Billy Jack Gregg has been a lawyer for over 27 years, and has served as Director of the Consumer Advocate Division of the West Virginia Public Service Commission since the office was created in 1981. As Consumer Advocate, Mr. Gregg represents West Virginians in all major proceedings affecting rates for electricity, gas, telephone and water. Prior to this position, Mr. Gregg was the senior staff attorney in the Field Solicitor's Office of the U.S. Department of Interior in Charleston, West Virginia; was in private practice in Hurricane, West Virginia; and served as Assistant Attorney General assigned to the West Virginia Human Rights Commission.
Mr. Gregg attended the University of Glasgow, Scotland, and received a B.A. degree in history and government from Austin College in Sherman, Texas. He earned his law degree from the University of Texas in Austin, Texas.
Mr. Gregg is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Regulatory Research Institute (NRRI) and the FCC's Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service. He has formerly served as Treasurer and a member of the Executive Committee of the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates (NASUCA), as a member of the FCC's Rural Task Force, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC).
Tim Hugo, Executive Director
CapNet
Timothy D. Hugo, named as one of Washington Business Forward's Top 40 people to watch and called a "Rising Star" by the Washington Business Journal, is the Executive Director of CapNet, an initiative of the national and Greater Washington technology communities that serves to provide a political voice to elected officials on Capitol Hill. CapNet, a political action committee affiliated with The Greater Washington Board of Trade, is described as a national force with a regional core in Greater Washington. CapNet's successes were also highlighted by Time Magazine.
CapNet, kicked off in June of 1999, has since grown to almost 60 member companies that include many of the largest names in the technology industry. Since its inception, CapNet has hosted over 100 members of Congress to acquaint them with the issues facing the regional and national technology sector.
Prior to joining CapNet, Mr. Hugo served as the Chief of Staff to Congressman Bud Shuster, Chairman, House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. As Chief of Staff, Mr. Hugo helped to develop strategies and provided policy input on issues of national importance to include the Clean Water Act, National Highway System Act, Superfund legislation, and the Transportation Efficiency Act of the 21st Century.
Tim Hugo was the vice president for AEA, Ltd, providing strategic advice and counsel to clients with legislative issues before the Congress. He was the first legislative director to Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn working on tax, welfare reform, and other issues before the Committee on Ways and Means. During his tenure in the Congress, he has also worked on the staff of the Committee on House Administration and the Committee on Public Works and Transportation. During the Administration of President George H.W. Bush, he was the Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs. At the Pentagon, he served as the liaison between the Department of Defense and the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.
Tim Hugo is a past member of the Commission on the Future of Transportation in Virginia and a current member of the Joint Subcommittee to Study Creation of a Northern Virginia Regional Transportation Authority (Barry Commission). In 1995, he was nominated to be a candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates. As a Rotarian, he is also active in his local community. From 1991-98, he was a member of the United States Army Reserve.
Mr. Hugo earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the College of William and Mary and received a Kodak Fellowship for the Senior Managers in Government Program, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
He resides with his wife, Paula, and their two children in Clifton, Virginia.
Gary Shapiro, President & CEO
Consumer Electronics Association
Gary Shapiro is president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the U. S. trade association representing the consumer electronics industry and owning and producing the world's largest consumer technology event, the International Consumer Electronics Show. The CES is over 1.2 million net square feet and attracts over 100,000 trade attendees each January to Las Vegas.
Mr. Shapiro chairs the Home Recording Rights Coalition as well as the Center for Exhibition Industry Research Foundation. He also sits on the CEA Executive Board, the George Mason University Board of Visitors, The George Mason University Law School Tech Center Executive Board of Advisors, the Board of Directors of the Greater Washington Society of Association Executives, and the North American Television Program Executives (NATPE) HDTV Consortium Steering Committee.
Mr. Shapiro has been an active leader in the development and launch of HDTV. He co-founded and chaired the HDTV Model Station and has served on the Board and Executive Committee of the Advanced Television Test Center (ATTC). He is also a charter inductee to the Academy of Digital Television Pioneers.
Mr. Shapiro has led the manufacturers' battle to preserve the legality of recording equipment and the consumer battle to protect video rental rights and the right to record. As Chairman of the Home Recording Rights Coalition, Mr. Shapiro has helped ensure the growth of the video rental market, VCRs, home computers and audio recording equipment, including MP3 technology. Mr. Shapiro has been a keynote speaker at numerous conferences and conventions, and published articles on legal, lobbying and electronics issues. His speech titled "Public Access, The First Amendment and IP" was featured in the September 15, 2000, issue of Vital Speeches. Mr. Shapiro served as a member of the Commonwealth of Virginia's Commission on Information Technology. This Commission proposed, and the Commonwealth passed legislation allowing commerce on the Internet. Since then, over 17 states and several countries have passed legislation based on the Virginia model.
He has served as a judge for Discover Magazine's Technology Awards since 1992. He has also been recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a "mastermind" for his initiative in helping to create the Industry Cooperative for Ozone Layer Protection (ICOLP), founded to create industry cooperation in eliminating ozone-depleting solvents. Prior to joining the association, Mr. Shapiro was an associate at the law firm of Squire, Sanders and Dempsey. He has also worked on Capitol Hill, as an assistant to a Member of Congress. Mr. Shapiro received a juris doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate in Economics and Psychology from the State University of New York, Binghamton.
Leroy Watson, Legislative Director
National Grange
Leroy Watson currently serves as the Legislative Director for the National Grange, the nation's oldest general farm and rural public interest organization. As the Legislative Director, Mr. Watson's duties include reviewing federal legislative and regulatory programs that impact the nearly 300,000 Grange members across rural America. Mr. Watson's primary areas of expertise includes federal farm programs, environment and land use regulations, and issues affecting rural infrastructure such as telecommunications, rural education, rural public safety and rural health care.
Prior to joining the National Grange, Mr. Watson was the Director of Regulatory Management for the non-profit National Biodiesel Board. In that capacity Mr. Watson was the primary author of several regulatory petitions that resulted in Biodiesel being certified as a legal fuel in the US under the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 and Biodiesel receiving the legal status of "alternative fuel" under the Energy Policy Act of 1992. Mr. Watson has also served as the Legislative Director of the Vermont State Grange and in the positions of Field Director for both the Vermont Farm Bureau and the Vermont State Employees Association.
Mr. Watson received his B.A. in Political Science from the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont. Mr. Watson received his law degree from George Mason University School of Law in Arlington, VA, where he focused his studies on administrative and regulatory law. Mr. Watson also studied the administrative and regulatory law of the European Union at the University of Exeter in Exeter, England.
Mr. Watson continues to own and operate a small family farm in Southeastern Vermont.