FCC Chairman Ajit Pai has named six individuals to the Board of Directors of the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). On September 13, 2017, the FCC released a public notice soliciting nominations, and pursuant to Section 54.703(c)(3) of the Commission’s rules, Chairman Pai has formally nominated the following individuals: (1) Joan H. Wade, Ed.D, Executive Director, Association of Educational Service Agencies, representative for schools that are eligible for discounts under Section 54.501; (2) Ellis Jacobs, Senior Attorney, Advocates for Basic Legal Equality, Inc., representative for low-income consumers; (3) Joseph Gillian, Consultant, Gillian Associates, representative for local exchange carriers; (4) Katharine Hsu Wibberly, Ph.D., Executive Director, Mid-Atlantic Telehealth Resource Center, representative for rural health care providers that are eligible to receive supported services pursuant to Section 54.601; (5) Geoffrey A. Feiss, General Manager, Montana Telecommunications Association, representative for ILECs (non-RBOCs) with $40 million or less in annual revenues; and (6) Atilla Tinic, Senior VP of Enterprise Business Support Systems and International IT, CenturyLink, representative for interexchange carriers with annual operating revenues of $3 billion or less. The new USAC Board members will be seated prior to its next scheduled meeting starting January 25, 2018.
