WASHINGTON D.C.—Federal Communications Commission Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has announced a number of key appointments at the agency, with the selection of bureau chiefs for Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, Media Bureau, Public Safety Bureau, Enforcement Bureau and General Counsel.
As part of the changes, Alejandro Roark will serve as Chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. Debra Jordan will now be Chief of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau. Holly Saurer will now serve as Chief of the Media Bureau. Loyaan Egal will serve as the Acting Chief of the Enforcement Bureau. Lastly, Michele Ellison will permanently serve as General Counsel.
“Ensuring modern communications reach every corner of the country isn’t possible without the leadership of incredible, capable experts throughout the Commission,” said Rosenworcel. “I am confident in the talent at the FCC and honored this team will help lead the Commission. I look forward to working with them to meet our shared goal of connecting everyone, everywhere.”
Rosenworcel added that “I’d also like to thank Michelle Carey, Lisa Fowlkes, Rosemary Harold, and Patrick Webre, for their public service as they transition to new roles across the agency,”
Alejandro Roark, who is joining as Chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau, previously served as the Executive Director for HTTP, a CEO Roundtable of national Latino civil rights organizations working in partnership to promote access, adoption, and the full utilization of technology and telecommunications resources by the Latino community across the United States. Prior to his position with HTTP, Roark led the digital equity and consumer education efforts for LULAC National – including the establishment of the LULAC’s Tech Luncheon and the production of its regional Latino Tech Summit.
Debra Jordan, who will serve as Chief of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, had previously served as Deputy Chief of the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau since 2015. Prior to that, Jordan served as a civilian within the Department of Defense where she managed a variety of critical information and communications systems. Her career also includes assignments with responsibility for Navy communications networks and telephony services across the Pacific region.
Holly Saurer, who will serve as the Chief of the Media Bureau, had acted as the Chairwoman’s Legal Advisor, Media for the past year. She returns to the Media Bureau, where she has held several positions, including Deputy Bureau Chief, Associate Bureau Chief, Senior Legal Advisor and Attorney-Advisor with the Media Bureau’s Policy Division. Saurer has previously served as an Acting Media Advisor for Commissioners Rosenworcel and Clyburn, and an International and Consumer Affairs Legal Advisor for Chairman Wheeler. Prior to joining the Commission, Saurer worked at the Washington, DC offices of Drinker Biddle & Reath and Miller & Van Eaton. She received her JD from American University and graduated from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communication.
Loyaan Egal, who will lead the Commission’s Enforcement Bureau as Acting Chief, had most recently, served as a Deputy Chief in the Foreign Investment Review Section (FIRS) of the U.S. Department of Justice’s National Security Division. He previously served in the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, where he established and led the Universal Service Fund Strike Force (now known as the Fraud Division), the FCC’s first white collar fraud unit. Prior to that, he was an Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York and the District of Columbia, where he investigated and prosecuted cases involving public corruption, official bribery, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), campaign finance fraud, bank, mail, wire, and tax fraud, international narcotics trafficking, and money laundering. Egal clerked for the Honorable Alia Moses, U.S. District Judge for the Western District of Texas. He received his undergraduate degree from St. John’s University and earned his law degree at the Howard University School of Law.
Michele Ellison had been Acting General Counsel prior to being appointed to permanently serve as General Counsel. Over the last year, Ellison has served with distinction as the agency’s chief legal officer and advised on some of thorniest legal and policy issues before the Commission – ranging from 5G and universal service to broadband data and national security. She previously served as Deputy General Counsel, a position she held for most of her 25-year tenure at the FCC. In addition, she has the distinction of being the first woman of color to hold positions as the agency’s Chief of Staff, Chief of the Enforcement Bureau, and with today’s announcement, General Counsel.
Before joining the Commission, Ellison was a Partner, and earlier an associate, at Williams and Connolly. She clerked for the Honorable Damon J. Keith of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and for the Honorable Paul R. Webber, III of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. Ellison received her J.D., cum laude from Howard University School of Law, and her B.A. from Duke University.
