FirstNet gets five new board members: Dowd, Fitzgerald not reappointed

Five of the 12 appointed members of the FirstNet board will be new faces—and public-safety representatives Charles Dowd and Paul Fitzgerald have been replaced—according to an announcement made this afternoon by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker.

FirstNet board member Ed Reynolds is the lone member with an expiring term to be reappointed by Pritzker. Former Chairman Sam Ginn announced in June that he planned to step down from the board. Dowd and Fitzgerald were the other board members with expiring terms, and both expressed a desire to be reappointed, but neither was.

In addition, Craig Farrill—a telecom executive who filled the roles of acting general manager and acting chief technology officer during his stint on the board—and former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb both recently expressed a desire to step down from the board, according to National Telecommunications and Information Administration spokeswoman Heather Phillips.

Today, Pritzker appointed the following people to the FirstNet board:

• Chris Burbank, chief of police, Salt Lake City Police Department;
• James H. Douglas, former governor of Vermont;
• Annise Parker, mayor, city of Houston, Texas;
• Frank Plastina, technology executive, North Carolina;
• Ed Reynolds, retired telecommunications executive (reappointed); and
• Richard Stanek, sheriff, Hennepin County, Minnesota.

The appointment of Douglas is particularly notable, because many criticized the initial FirstNet board appointments in 2012, because they did not include a member that was a state official at the time. Federal government officials noted that board member Teri Takai had filled state roles previously, but she was working for the federal government at the time of her appointment in 2012.

“I greatly appreciate the willingness of these individuals to serve our nation in the critical task of ensuring our first responders have the tools they need to perform their live-saving work,” Pritzker said in a prepared statement. “Over the past two years, the FirstNet board has made progress toward fulfilling the mission mandated by Congress to create the country’s first nationwide broadband network dedicated to helping firefighters, police and emergency responders to communicate more effectively and keep communities safe. The new members of the board bring great experience to help carry out FirstNet’s important mission.”

Lawrence Strickling, assistant secretary of Commerce for communications and information and NTIA administrator, echoed this sentiment.

“With these new appointments, I’m confident that the FirstNet Board has the right combination of public safety, wireless network, and state, local and federal government expertise to oversee FirstNet as it continues its work to get this historic network up and running,” Strickling said in a prepared statement. “We are grateful that they’ve agreed to take on this challenge, and welcome the fresh thinking and energy that new board members will bring to FirstNet.”

Last year, three of the four board members with expiring terms—Sue Swenson, Jeff Johnson and Teri Takai—were reappointed by Pritzker. The lone change to the board in 2013 was Barry Boniface replacing Bill Keever, who announced that he would not seek reappointment to focus on running his family’s winery in California.

Both Fitzgerald and Dowd said they wanted to be reappointed to the FirstNet board, but their status has been the subject of considerable speculation in recent months.