Julius Genachowski
Encyclopedia
Julius Genachowski is an American lawyer and businessman. He became Federal Communications Commission
Chairman on June 29, 2009.
. He attended yeshiva
and studied in Israel
. He entered Columbia College of Columbia University
as a pre-med student, but earned a Bachelor of Arts
in History
(1985) magna cum laude. He was an Editor of the Columbia Daily Spectator
. After working in Washington, D.C.
for then New York Congressman Chuck Schumer, he entered Harvard Law School
and earned a Juris Doctor
(1991), also magna cum laude. He was a Notes Editor at the Harvard Law Review
when his classmate Barack Obama
was its president. Genachowski clerked for The Honorable Abner J. Mikva
on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and then for Justices William J. Brennan and David Souter
at the U.S. Supreme Court.
and then U.S. Representative Chuck Schumer. In 1994 FCC Chairman Reed Hundt
hired him as a senior legal advisor; he was chief counsel 1996-1997.
He was Chief of Business Operations and a member of Barry Diller
's Office of the Chairperson at IAC/InterActiveCorp
and executive responsible for the creation of Fox Broadcasting Company
and USA Broadcasting
. He earned at least $USD2.5 million when Vivendi
acquired Universal
assets in 2003. He had previously served on the Boards of Directors
of Expedia
, Hotels.com
, and Ticketmaster
.
Genachowski is a co-founder of LaunchBox Digital and Rock Creek Ventures; a Special Advisor at General Atlantic
; and a member of the Boards of Directors at The Motley Fool, Web.com
, Mark Ecko Enterprises, and Beliefnet
. In April 2006, he was appointed to the Board of JackBe
.
He serves on the Board of Common Sense Media
, a leading organization seeking to improve the media lives of children and families and the Advisory Board
of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2). He also recently helped found the New Resource Bank, the country’s first commercial
green bank
.
Working Group
, which created the Obama Technology and Innovation Plan. He also advised and guided the Campaign’s innovative use of technology and the Internet
for grassroots
engagement and participation.
After the November election
, he co-led the Technology, Innovation, and Government Reform Group for President-Elect
Obama
's Transition Team
. On January 12, 2009, several news outlets reported that Genachowski would be President-Elect Obama's choice to head the FCC
. This was confirmed by a press release on March 3, 2009.
lines, setting a new tone for the agency. However criticisms have become numerous and increasingly vocal among consumer groups
and legislative supporters about his lack of substantive accomplishments to date. In particular, his lack of clear commitment to regulating carriers
under Title II of the 1934 Communications Act, as he had proposed, has engendered a great deal of controversy and concern among supporters of Net Neutrality
. Correspondingly, those carriers opposed to increased regulation have attempted to suggest regulatory solutions, a process he has been criticized for encouraging.
Genachowski's departure from the FCC seemed a possibility in early 2011, possibly to some other federal post.
, is an Orthodox
rabbi
and the CEO of the Orthodox Union
Kosher Division. He is married to Rachel Goslins
.
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
Chairman on June 29, 2009.
Education
Genachowski grew up in Great Neck, New YorkGreat Neck, New York
The term Great Neck is commonly applied to a peninsula on the North Shore of Long Island, which includes the village of Great Neck, the village of Great Neck Estates, the village of Great Neck Plaza, and others, as well as an area south of the peninsula near Lake Success and the border of Queens...
. He attended yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
and studied in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. He entered Columbia College of Columbia University
Columbia College of Columbia University
Columbia College is the oldest undergraduate college at Columbia University, situated on the university's main campus in Morningside Heights in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1754 by the Church of England as King's College, receiving a Royal Charter from King George II...
as a pre-med student, but earned a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in History
History
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
(1985) magna cum laude. He was an Editor of the Columbia Daily Spectator
Columbia Daily Spectator
Columbia Daily Spectator is the daily student newspaper of Columbia University. It is published at 112th and Broadway in New York, New York. Founded in 1877, it is the oldest continuously operating college news daily in the nation after The Harvard Crimson, and has been legally independent of the...
. After working in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
for then New York Congressman Chuck Schumer, he entered Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...
and earned a Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
(1991), also magna cum laude. He was a Notes Editor at the Harvard Law Review
Harvard Law Review
The Harvard Law Review is a journal of legal scholarship published by an independent student group at Harvard Law School.-Overview:According to the 2008 Journal Citation Reports, the Review is the most cited law review and has the second-highest impact factor in the category "law" after the...
when his classmate Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
was its president. Genachowski clerked for The Honorable Abner J. Mikva
Abner J. Mikva
Abner Joseph Mikva is a Democratic former U.S. Representative, federal judge and law professor from Chicago.-Biography:Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Mikva attended the University of Chicago Law School, from which he graduated in 1951...
on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and then for Justices William J. Brennan and David Souter
David Souter
David Hackett Souter is a former Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He served from 1990 until his retirement on June 29, 2009. Appointed by President George H. W. Bush to fill the seat vacated by William J...
at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Government and business experience
Genachowski was on the staffs of the Select Committee investigating the Iran-Contra AffairIran-Contra Affair
The Iran–Contra affair , also referred to as Irangate, Contragate or Iran-Contra-Gate, was a political scandal in the United States that came to light in November 1986. During the Reagan administration, senior Reagan administration officials and President Reagan secretly facilitated the sale of...
and then U.S. Representative Chuck Schumer. In 1994 FCC Chairman Reed Hundt
Reed Hundt
Reed E. Hundt was chairman of the United States Federal Communications Commission from 1993 to 1997. Appointed by President Bill Clinton, he served for most of Clinton's first term. He was succeeded by William Kennard.- Biography :Hundt attended high school in Washington D.C at the prestigious St....
hired him as a senior legal advisor; he was chief counsel 1996-1997.
He was Chief of Business Operations and a member of Barry Diller
Barry Diller
Barry Charles Diller is the Chairman and Senior Executive of IAC/InterActiveCorp and the media executive responsible for the creation of Fox Broadcasting Company and USA Broadcasting.-Early life:...
's Office of the Chairperson at IAC/InterActiveCorp
IAC/InterActiveCorp
InterActiveCorp is an American internet company with over 50 brands across 40 countries headquartered in New York City...
and executive responsible for the creation of Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
and USA Broadcasting
USA Broadcasting
USA Broadcasting was an American media company owned by veteran entertainment industry executive Barry Diller. This network was the over-the-air broadcasting arm of USA Network....
. He earned at least $USD2.5 million when Vivendi
Vivendi
Vivendi SA is a French international media conglomerate with activities in music, television and film, publishing, telecommunications, the Internet, and video games. It is headquartered in Paris.- History :...
acquired Universal
Universal Studios
Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios....
assets in 2003. He had previously served on the Boards of Directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
of Expedia
Expedia
Expedia is an Internet-based travel website based in the US with localised sites for 21 countries...
, Hotels.com
Hotels.com
Hotels.com is an operating company of Expedia, Inc. that provides reservation services for hotel rooms and other places to stay.The company was founded in Dallas, TX in 1991 as Hotel Reservations Network by Dave Litman and Bob Diener as a toll-free telephone service, offering consumers a one-stop...
, and Ticketmaster
Ticketmaster
Ticketmaster Entertainment, Inc. is an independent American ticket sales and distribution company based in West Hollywood, California, USA, with operations in many countries around the world. In 2010 it merged with Live Nation to become Live Nation Entertainment...
.
Genachowski is a co-founder of LaunchBox Digital and Rock Creek Ventures; a Special Advisor at General Atlantic
General Atlantic
General Atlantic is a private equity investment firm. The firm invests through growth capital injections, control buyouts, industry consolidations, build-ups, recapitalizations, and PIPEs...
; and a member of the Boards of Directors at The Motley Fool, Web.com
Web.com
Web.com, Inc , formerly Interland , was a provider of websites and web services to small businesses and consumers, based in Atlanta, Georgia. Web.com's services included do-it-yourself and professional website design, web hosting, e-commerce, web marketing, and e-mail...
, Mark Ecko Enterprises, and Beliefnet
Beliefnet
Beliefnet is a large multi-faith e-community that aims to provide a free forum for religious information and inspiration, spiritual tools, and discussions and dialogue groups. Beliefnet provides information about various religious and spiritual beliefs, ranging from Christian denominations to...
. In April 2006, he was appointed to the Board of JackBe
JackBe
JackBe Corporation is a privately-held vendor of enterprise mashup software for real-time intelligence applications. JackBe is based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. JackBe customers include Banamex, Thomson Scientific, General Electric, Qualcomm, Nutrisystem, the US Defense Intelligence Agency, and the...
.
He serves on the Board of Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media
Common Sense Media , commonly known as CSM, is a San Francisco-based non-profit organization which serves as a guide for parents that has reviews for most media types, including books, movies, video games, music, and websites, and rates them in terms of violence, sex, and profanity. The website...
, a leading organization seeking to improve the media lives of children and families and the Advisory Board
Advisory board
An advisory board is a body that advises the board of directors and management of a corporation but does not have authority to vote on corporate matters, nor a legal fiduciary responsibility...
of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2). He also recently helped found the New Resource Bank, the country’s first commercial
Commercial bank
After the implementation of the Glass–Steagall Act, the U.S. Congress required that banks engage only in banking activities, whereas investment banks were limited to capital market activities. As the two no longer have to be under separate ownership under U.S...
green bank
Ethical banking
An ethical bank, also known as a social, alternative, civic, or sustainable bank, is a bank concerned with the social and environmental impacts of its investments and loans. Ethical banks are part of a larger societal movement toward more social and environmental responsibility in the financial...
.
Obama campaign and transition
For Senator Barack Obama's 2008 Presidential Campaign, Genachowski was Chairperson of the Technology, Media and Telecommunications PolicyPolicy
A policy is typically described as a principle or rule to guide decisions and achieve rational outcome. The term is not normally used to denote what is actually done, this is normally referred to as either procedure or protocol...
Working Group
Working group
A working group is an interdisciplinary collaboration of researchers working on new research activities that would be difficult to develop under traditional funding mechanisms . The lifespan of the WG can last anywhere between a few months and several years...
, which created the Obama Technology and Innovation Plan. He also advised and guided the Campaign’s innovative use of technology and the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
for grassroots
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
engagement and participation.
After the November election
United States presidential election, 2008
The United States presidential election of 2008 was the 56th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on November 4, 2008. Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior United States Senator from Illinois, defeated Republican John McCain, the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona. Obama received 365...
, he co-led the Technology, Innovation, and Government Reform Group for President-Elect
President-elect
An -elect is a political candidate who has been elected to an office but who has not yet been sworn in or officially taken office. These may include an incoming president, senator, representative, governor and mayor.Analogously, the term "designate" An -elect is a political candidate who has been...
Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
's Transition Team
Presidential transition of Barack Obama
The presidential transition of Barack Obama began when he won the United States presidential election on November 4, 2008, and became the President-Elect. He was formally elected by the Electoral College on December 15, 2008...
. On January 12, 2009, several news outlets reported that Genachowski would be President-Elect Obama's choice to head the FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
. This was confirmed by a press release on March 3, 2009.
Accomplishments as FCC Chairman
Initially, Chairman Genachowski promised to rein in companies restricting what people can do on their InternetInternet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
lines, setting a new tone for the agency. However criticisms have become numerous and increasingly vocal among consumer groups
Consumer organization
Consumer organizations are advocacy groups that seek to protect people from corporate abuse like unsafe products, predatory lending, false advertising, astroturfing and pollution.Consumer organizations may operate via protests, campaigning or lobbying...
and legislative supporters about his lack of substantive accomplishments to date. In particular, his lack of clear commitment to regulating carriers
Mobile network operator
A mobile network operator , also known as mobile phone operator , carrier service provider , wireless service provider, wireless carrier, or cellular company, or mobile network carrier is a telephone company that provides services for mobile phone subscribers.One essential...
under Title II of the 1934 Communications Act, as he had proposed, has engendered a great deal of controversy and concern among supporters of Net Neutrality
Network neutrality
Network neutrality is a principle that advocates no restrictions by Internet service providers or governments on consumers' access to networks that participate in the Internet...
. Correspondingly, those carriers opposed to increased regulation have attempted to suggest regulatory solutions, a process he has been criticized for encouraging.
Genachowski's departure from the FCC seemed a possibility in early 2011, possibly to some other federal post.
Personal
His parents are Eastern European Jews who survived the Holocaust. His father's cousin, Menachem GenackMenachem Genack
Menachem Genack is an Orthodox rabbi and the CEO of the Orthodox Union Kosher Division, a supervisory organization of kosher food. He is known as one of the foremost talmidim of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik under whom he studied for over a decade. He was also very close to Rabbi Moshe Shmuel...
, is an Orthodox
Orthodox Judaism
Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...
rabbi
Rabbi
In Judaism, a rabbi is a teacher of Torah. This title derives from the Hebrew word רבי , meaning "My Master" , which is the way a student would address a master of Torah...
and the CEO of the Orthodox Union
Orthodox Union
The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America , more popularly known as the Orthodox Union , is one of the oldest Orthodox Jewish organizations in the United States. It is best known for its kosher food preparation supervision service...
Kosher Division. He is married to Rachel Goslins
Rachel Goslins
Rachel Goslins currently is Executive Director of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, an advisory committee to the White House on cultural policy. President Obama appointed her to this position in 2009....
.