Friday, April 15, 2005
9:45 am – 11:15 am
Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill Hotel
Capitol B, Lobby Level
“Telecom 101: Emerging/Converging Technologies Raise New Policy Issues for State Legislatures”
Speaker Biographies
Representative Sheryl Allen, Utah
Representative Allen is Chair of the Utah House Public Utilities and Technology committee and serves on the Utah Higher Education Appropriations Subcommittee and the Utah House Revenue and Taxation Committee. She is Chair of the NCSL Economic Development Committee and serves on the NCSL Advisory Committee on International Trade. She is Foundation Director, Davis County School District. Representative Allen received her B.S., Elementary Education, and M.S., Educational Administration, from the University of Utah.
Senator Cale Case, Wyoming
Cale Case, Ph.D. is an economist and president of Case and Company, a firm specializing in economic and regulatory consulting.
Dr. Case earned his doctorate in natural resource and public utility economics in 1986 and has served as industry and regulatory advisor to telephone companies, electric utilities, and municipal, state and national governments. He has assisted several nations in the establishment of regulatory agencies and competition and anti-trust policies issues. He has served on the faculty of the Public Utility Regulatory Training Institute at the University of Wyoming.
Prior to forming Case and Company, Dr. Case was Director of Economics and Finance of Chicago-based Palmer Bellevue, a division of Coopers & Lybrand, LLP. Prior to that he was the key policy officer of the Illinois Commerce Commission, a multi-sector public utility regulatory agency, where he served as the Manager of the Policy Analysis Division and earlier as Director of the Telecommunication Program. While at the Illinois Commerce Commission he served on the National Association Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ Staff Subcommittee on Telecommunications. He is a frequent lecturer on natural resource policy, utility and telecommunications market. Dr. Case is a Wyoming State Senator and past chairman of the Wyoming Telecommunications Council, advisory body to the Governor and the Legislature on regulatory policy. He is the principle author of the 1995 Wyoming Telecommunications Act. He was first elected to the Wyoming House in 1992.
Tom Navin
Tom Navin is currently the Chief of the Wireline Competition Bureau’s Competition Policy Division. As Chief of the Competition Policy Division, Mr. Navin is responsible for managing implementation of many key aspects of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, including the Commission’s UNE Triennial Review pursuant to section 251 and issues affecting Broadband policy such as VOIP and wireline broadband Internet access. Mr. Navin also has been responsible for evaluating several applications by the Bell Operating Companies to enter the long distance market and reviewing license transfer applications filed by common carriers. Prior to his new position, Mr. Navin served as Deputy Chief of his current division and Deputy Chief of the Wireless Bureau’s Policy Division where he was responsible for implementing E911, CALEA, and local number portability policy for wireless carriers. Before joining the FCC, he was an associate at McDermott, Will & Emery in its regulatory practice group focusing on telecommunications issues. Tom received a B.S. from Wake Forest University, and a J.D. from the University of Virginia, where he was an Executive Editor of the Virginia Journal of International Law.
Senator Orville B. Smidt, South Dakota
Orville B. Smidt was first elected to the South Dakota House of Representatives in 1996. He served four-two year terms in the House--termed out in 2004; elected to the South Dakota Senate and is currently serving on the Appropriations Committee. Senator Smidt was born and raised in South Dakota. A graduate of South Dakota State University, received an Officer's Commission in the United States Army in 1966, retiring from active duty in 1993 as a Colonel in the Army Aviation Branch.
During his 9 years in the South Dakota Legislature, Senator Smidt has served on the transportation, commerce, taxation, education, state affairs and appropriations committee's. He has had committee leadership positions in taxation and education and was Assistant Majority Leader in the House. He has served for 6 years on the Executive Board of the Legislative Research Council elected as Chair for two years. Senator Smidt has also served on the Rules Review Committee for 7 years as a member, Vice Chair and Chair. Senator Smidt is also the South Dakota Legislative Representative on the Streamlined Sales Tax Project and is currently Vice Chair of the NCSL Communications, Technology and Interstate Commerce Committee.
Representative W. Curtis Thomas, Pennsylvania
Representative Thomas has been a Member of the Pennsylvania House since 1989. His current Standing Committee Assignments include: Commerce; Environmental Resources and Energy; and Intergovernmental Affairs (Subcommittee Chairman on Information Technology). He received his B.S., Education, from Temple University, and J.D. from Antioch School of Law. He is Vice Chair of the NCSL Communications, Technology and Interstate Commerce Committee.
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