The Managing Partner of Cinnamon Mueller‘s Washington, D.C., office has just been appointed to the FCC as its new deputy chief of the agency’s Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau.
Taking the role is Barbara Esbin, who will focus her new duties on overseeing the Bureau’s Office of Native Affairs and Policy and its Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, concentrating on productive engagement with Native Nations and with state and local governments.
“Communications play a vital role in the everyday lives of Americans, and it’s the responsibility of this Bureau to ensure that the connection between consumers and the policies we work on as an agency is always front and center,” said Patrick Webre, acting chief of the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. “We are so pleased that Barbara will be joining our committed team. Her experience and talent will further bolster our work on behalf of American consumers – and her focus on engaging with our state, local and Tribal partners will be vital.”
Esbin knows much about the FCC: She served as Asst. Division Chief of the Common Carrier Bureau’s Tariff Division from 1991-1994, and then spent a year as a Senior Policy Advisor in the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. From 1995-1996, Esbin was Special Counsel for Competition for the bureau, and then Associate Bureau Chief for the Cable Services Bureau, exiting after 2 years and 7 months in December 1998 to join the communications law firm Dow, Lownes & Albertson.
She returned to the FCC as the Media Bureau’s Associate Bureau Chief in July 2001, holding the role for 4 1/2 years before shifting to a role as Special Counsel in the Enforcement Bureau’s Market Disputes Resolution Division.
Esbin joined Cinnamon Mueller in 2010.
