The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is making some staff changes that will boost the role of former Public Knowledge head Gigi Sohn.
Tom Wheeler announced on Friday that Sohn, who previously held the title of special counsel for external affairs, will now be his counselor.
{mosads}The minor change in title belies a broader recognition of the role that Sohn has come to server in Wheeler’s commission, especially over the last year of wrangling around the net neutrality regulations.
In addition to personally advising Wheeler and reaching out to outside advocacy groups, Sohn will now also be his representative “at a variety of public forums across the country,” the FCC said.
Sohn was influential in helping Wheeler arrive at his new Internet access regulations, which take the controversial step of reclassifying broadband Internet to treat it similar to a public utility.
In recent months, she has also been one of the chairman’s most trusted surrogates to explain and boost support for the new rules. The new role seems to be an extension of that work.
“Gigi has been an invaluable contributor to our work at the commission,” Wheeler said in a statement. “I greatly value her wise counsel and am proud of her work representing my office both in Washington and across the country.”
Before joining the FCC in 2013, she co-founded and led Public Knowledge, an advocacy group that supports tough net neutrality rules and other protections for consumers.
In addition to the announcement about Sohn, the FCC also announced that Emmaka Porchea-Veneszee is joining Wheeler’s office as his special and confidential assistant. She comes from the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, where she was an executive assistant to the executive director.