He is a Michigan Law grad from Saskatchewan with experience at Brightstar Corp. and, most recently, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA).
How does the professional experience of Nathan Simington, the newest Commission on the Federal Communications Commission, give the agency a whole new perspective on how to consider its policies and rules?
“Well, I think my experiences in the private sector, particularly with cellular devices and long-term deals, gives me a somewhat unusual perspective at the Commission,” he says in an exclusive interview.
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In his new chair at the FCC, Simington tries to sit close to industry. And, he tries to think hard about second-order effects on capital deployment.
“In the private sector, most of my deals had horizons of five to thirty years, which inevitably exposed them to regulatory and legislative risk,” he says. “Sometimes, stability is valuable in itself. Sometimes, the right thing to do is nothing, and sometimes, it’s worth providing assurances of stability so that investors have the confidence to embark on long-term projects.”
Simington also believes it’s also helpful to have practical experience advising a C-suite.
“Outside of this specific context, it’s easy for a lawyer, no matter how skilled, to neglect the centrality of finance in executive decisions,” he says. “People coming from the business world will often say that regulators have never had to meet a P&L. The significance of this remark can be lost on those who’ve never sweated bullets rolling over their long-term financing while their banks go over their past four quarters with a fine-toothed comb. Controlling cost of capital is very important in a leveraged business, and most businesses are leveraged. Once you understand this, it’s impossible not to think about internal capital flows within a company and the impact that regulatory actions may have on them.”
At the NTIA, Simington had “the immense privilege of working alongside some of the finest scientific, engineering, and policy experts in the U.S. government,” he says. “This constituted a comprehensive education in what I believe to be some of the most vital open issues the Commission can address: physical network security, trade issues, spectrum policy, and closing the digital divide.”
And, he notes, it was also a great way to learn how the Commission works with the Executive Branch from an Executive Branch perspective.
With that knowledge, Simington is armed and ready to take on the needs of today’s media world.
