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FirstNet Authority board Chair Keisha Lance Bottoms to resign ahead of Trump inaugurationFirstNet Authority board Chair Keisha Lance Bottoms to resign ahead of Trump inauguration
Keisha Lance Bottoms has submitted a letter of resignation to vacate her recent appointment as FirstNet Authority board chair—effective Monday, the day of Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration—according to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
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Keisha Lance Bottoms has submitted a letter of resignation to vacate her recent appointment as FirstNet Authority board chair—effective Monday, the day of Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration—according to the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
“Former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms submitted her letter of resignation from the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority) Board to Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, effective on January 20, 2025,” according to an NTIA press release issued yesterday.
Bottoms’ resignation means her stint as FirstNet Authority board chair will last less than three months, and she will have presided over only one meeting. Raimondo appointed Bottoms to the position in late October—about a week before the presidential election in November—as part of a significant overhaul of the FirsrtNet Authority board.
FirstNet Authority board Vice Chair Renee Gordon will assume the duties of the board chair until the incoming Secretary of Commerce—Trump has nominated Howard Lutnick for the job—appoints a new board chair, according to the NTIA press release.
Bottoms is a high-profile Democrat who was elected mayor of Atlanta in 2017. In July 2022, she joined the Biden administration as senior advisor to the president and as director of the Office of Public Engagement. Bottoms was succeeded in both roles in April 2023 by Stephen Benjamin, another former FirstNet Authority board chair.
No reason was provided for Bottoms’ decision to resign from the FirstNet Authority board in the NTIA press release. However, speculation about Bottoms began within the industry almost immediately after Trump was elected, given Bottoms’ outspoken support for Democrat candidate Kamala Harris and her criticism of both Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance. Rumors that Bottoms would resign before Trump’s inauguration have circulated for more than a week.
In October, Raimondo named Bottoms and the following six new members to serve on the FirstNet Authority board for three-year terms, according to a U.S. Department of Commerce press release:
Michael Adkinson—The sheriff of Walton County, Fla., and a member of the National Sheriffs Association board of directors.
Damon Darsey—An emergency medicine and EMS physician who is the medical director for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety. He was a former tenured associate professor in emergency medicine and pediatrics at the University of Mississippi. Darsey is a member of the National Association of State EMS Officials and the National EMS Physicians Association.
Erik Gaull—President of the International Association of Emergency Managers Region III, he is a technology expert and consultant specializing in public-safety, emergency-management, counterterrorism/homeland-security, organizational-resilience, and enterprise risk management. Gaull is a reserve officer for the D.C Metropolitan Police Department; and a member of the Cabin John Park, Maryland Volunteer Fire Department.
Jeffrey Norman—Milwaukee Police Department’s chief of police, Norman is a member of the Major City Chiefs and a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
Rasheid Scarlett—An information technology executive and CEO of NetAesthetics.
Trisha Wolford—Fire Chief of Anne Arundel County, Maryland, Wolford is first vice president of the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) and treasurer for the IAFC’s Metropolitan Fire Chiefs Section Executive Board.
At the same time, Raimondo reappointed four existing FirstNet Authority board members to new three-year terms: Alexandra Fernandez Navarro, Sean McDevitt, Warren Mickens and Jocelyn Moore.
Gordon was the lone member of the FirstNet Authority board who still had time on her term and did not require a reappointment.
Of course, the FirstNet Authority board will get three new members who will fill legally mandated seats representing the new presidential administration’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Department of Justice (DoJ), and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
