Chairman Pai Announces Staff Changes in Office of Media Relations

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced staff changes in the Office of Media Relations, including the appointment of a new deputy director, the promotions of both a new associate director and a new senior communications advisor, and the departure of the press secretary. The new FCC deputy director of communications, Anne Veigle, will come to the Commission from the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration, where she served as director of public affairs. Will Wiquist, currently the FCC’s deputy press secretary, will serve as associate director of communications and policy advisor. Katie Gorscak will become senior communications advisor, transitioning from her role as director of communications of the agency’s Connect2Health Task Force. And press secretary Tina Pelkey has departed the agency for a new position in the private sector.

Prior to serving as NTIA’s public affairs director, Veigle was a senior editor and associate managing editor for telecom industry publication Communications Daily, senior vice president of communications for the trade association USTelecom, chief editor at the US Trade Representative, and a reporter for The New Orleans Times-Picayune and The Washington Times. She earned a master’s degree in journalism from Boston University and a bachelor’s degree in music from Catholic University.

Prior to joining the FCC in early 2015 as deputy press secretary, Wiquist was the executive director of the Green Mountain Club in Vermont, served as a press secretary in the U.S. Senate, and worked on telecom policy for the state of Vermont and at the trade association CompTel. He earned a master’s degree in public policy from American University and a bachelor’s degree from Franklin & Marshall College.

Before joining the FCC in late 2014 as director of communications for the Connect2Health Task Force, Gorscak worked on public relations and digital strategy for the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service as well as in the private sector. She has a master’s degree in public communications from American University and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Dayton.

The additions of Veigle and Gorscak to the Office of Media Relations follow the departures in recent months of Mark Wigfield and Neil Grace. Veigle started work at the FCC May 11. Gorscak has been serving in the office already following the aforementioned departures. They will join Brian Hart, FCC director of communications; Wiquist; and the next press secretary as the senior media liaisons for the agency.