VISA Veteran Will Join FCC June 1 to Oversee TCPA

Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler has named Alison Kutler, most recently Senior Vice President of Government Relations at VISA, as Acting Chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau and Special Advisor to the Chairman for Digital Opportunity (read the full announcement here).

Joining the Commission on June 1, Ms. Kutler’s responsibilities will include oversight of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).

Prior to VISA, Ms. Kutler served in senior positions at the Export-Import Bank, and the International Trade Administration in the Department of Commerce, and was a partner in the international law firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP. She also serves a s Vice President of Kids Enjoy Exercise Now (KEEN), a nonprofit that provides sport opportunities to children with severe and profound disabilities. She earned her J.D. at Stanford Law School and her B.A. from Georgetown University.

The baton is being passed to Alison Kutler from Kris Monteith, the Acting Chief of CGB since February 2012, who has held a wide variety of leadership positions within the Commission since joining the agency in 1997, including Chief of the Enforcement Bureau, Deputy Bureau Chief of the Media Bureau, and Deputy Bureau Chief for Outreach and Intergovernmental Affairs in CGB.

Ms. Kutler will arrive to a stack of petitions imploring the Commission to modernize the TCPA. We will watch to see whether her industry background in a firm directly impacted by the outdated law gives her the perspective to make action a high priority.

insideARM maintains a TCPA resources page to keep you posted on developments, including a Caselaw chart that provides a visual overview of related court decisions around the United States.