OTI Applauds Confirmation of Former Director Alan Davidson to Head NTIA

Today, the Senate confirmed former OTI director Alan Davidson as administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) in a strong bipartisan vote. Davidson will bring years of experience serving the public interest to NTIA at a pivotal moment for broadband deployment, spectrum allocation, digital privacy, and other crucial tech policy issues.

Davidson served most recently as a vice president at the Mozilla Foundation. He was OTI’s director and New America’s vice president for technology policy and strategy from 2014 to 2015. He also served as the first director of digital economy at the U.S. Department of Commerce and opened Google’s first Washington, D.C. office in 2005. He began his professional life as a computer scientist.

The following quote can be attributed to Sarah Morris, director of New America’s Open Technology Institute.

Alan Davidson’s confirmation brings a tireless public interest advocate to the fore at NTIA at a time of unprecedented opportunity across the full range of the agency’s work. I had the privilege of working with Alan during his time at OTI and know that his commitment to promoting an open and accessible internet for all runs deep. His knowledge and experience will be a key asset to NTIA as it works to close the digital divide, improve management of the airwaves, protect digital privacy, and improve coordination across government on a host of other tech policy issues. We look forward to working with Alan on these issues and congratulate him on his confirmation.

This forward movement for NTIA also highlights the pressing need for the Senate to confirm Gigi Sohn and Alvaro Bedoya to the FCC and FTC, two agencies that face many important policymaking opportunities, but lack the full slate of Commissioners needed to move these policies forward. Sohn and Bedoya are two highly qualified nominees who are exceptionally well positioned to deliver on the administration’s tech policy priorities, but they need Senate confirmation to get to work. We urge Senate leaders to move forward with their votes without further delay.