FCC Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee Scheduled to Hold First Meeting Today

The FCC was directed by Congress to form the Committee as part of the recently-passed Warning, Alert and Response Network (WARN) Act (Title VI of Public Law 109-347). The committee will establish a national emergency alert system to warn the public in case of a terrorist attack, natural disaster or other crisis. Over the next year, the Committee will develop and recommend technical standards and protocols to enable mobile service providers to transmit alerts to subscribers' mobile phones.

The Committee is composed of:

Chair: Kevin J. Martin, FCC Chairman

State & Local Government Representatives

Art Botterell
Contra Costa County, CA

Thomas (TJ) Lyon
International Association of Fire Chiefs

Kevin McGinnis
National Association of State EMS Officials

Richard Mirgon
Association of Public Safety Communications Officials

Jonathan Werbell
City of New York, NY


Tribal Government Representatives

R. Dale Gehman
Poarch Band of Creek Indians


Representatives of Communications Service Providers

Brian Daly
Cingular Wireless

Gary K. Jones
T-Mobile USA

Jay Pabley
Sprint Nextel Corp.

Doug Rutledge
Alltel

Edward A. Salas
Verizon Wireless


Representatives of Vendors, Developers and Manufacturers

Stephen Carter
Qualcomm, Incorporated

Amar Deol
Nortel

Stephen Hayes
Ericsson Inc.

Dr. Rob Kubik
Motorola

Gadi Mazor
Onset Technology

Ilkka Juhani Niva
Nokia

Billy Pitts
NTI Group, Inc.


Representatives of Third-Party Service Bureaus

Robin Erkkila
Intrado

Anthony M. Rutkowski
VeriSign, Inc.

Paul Wilcock
Syniverse Technologies


Broadcaster Representatives with Technical Expertise

Ann Arnold
Texas Association of Broadcasters

Patrick Roberts
Florida Association of Broadcasters

William Wertz
Michigan Association of Broadcasters

Kelly Williams
National Association of Broadcasters


Representative of National Organization Representing Noncommercial Broadcast TV

John Lawson
Association of Public Television Stations

Representatives of National Organizations Representing Individuals with Special Needs

Hilary C. Styron
National Organization on Disability

Marcia Brooks
WGBH National Center for Accessible Media

Other Technical Representatives

Dr. Edward Czarnecki
SpectraRep

Stephen Oshinsky
American Association of Paging Carriers

Art Prest
Rural Cellular Association

Maria Estefania
Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions, Inc.

Marion Dunn Tutor
Mississippi Council on Aging

Cheryl Blum
Telecommunications Industry Association

Leslie Chapman-Henderson
FLASH

Representatives of Other Qualified Stakeholders and Interested Parties

Kevin Briggs
Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Dale Barr
National Communications System
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Edward Fritts
Global Security Systems, LLC

Christopher Guttman-McCabe
CTIA - The Wireless Association