• FCC chair makes 1st staff appointments
By Brian Santo

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski has begun assembling his senior staff with the appointments of a managing director, Steven VanRoekel, and general counsel, Austin Schlick.

VanRoekel is coming off 15 years at Microsoft. Among his duties there, he managed Microsoft’s cross-industry Web Services team and served as speech and strategy assistant to Bill Gates. He’s also credited with assisting Gates in his transition from CEO of Microsoft to chief software architect, and with advising the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on its shift in giving philosophy from a focus on technology to a focus on world health. Most recently he was an executive in the Windows Server and Tools division.

Schlick served most recently as chief of the civil division of the office of the Maryland attorney general.