The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has appointed Julie Kearney as chief of its newly launched Space Bureau.
The agency set plans for the new bureau into motion late last year with the goal of better supporting the needs of a growing satellite industry and promoting long-term technical capacity at the FCC. At the same time, the agency announced plans to create a standalone Office of International Affairs (OIA). The Space Bureau and the OIA replace the FCC’s previous International Bureau.
“The satellite industry is growing at a record pace, but here on the ground, our regulatory frameworks for licensing them have not kept up,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel last November.
To mark the official kick-off of the Space Bureau and OIA on April 11, Rosenworcel also named Ethan Lucarelli as chief of the OIA.
“The launch of these two fundamentally important Commission departments will succeed because of the FCC’s outstanding staff,” Rosenworcel said this week.
“These hardworking, talented professionals interface with our international counterparts, modernize our satellite and orbital debris rules, review license requests for undersea cables upon which international interconnectivity relies, and much more,” she said.
Kearney joined the FCC in February as senior counsel to help lead the transition to the Space Bureau. She held positions with numerous private sector firms including Twilio, Loon (Alphabet), National Public Radio, and the Consumer Technology Association.
Lucarelli has been a legal adviser to Rosenworcel on wireless and international policy issues and was an advisor to the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau.
