At FCC, Mignon Clyburn cracks the glass ceiling

The hallway in front of the Federal Communications Commission’s meeting room is lined with pictures of the agency’s past leaders, from Rear Adm. W.H.G. Ballard to just-departed Julius Genachowski. They’re all men — until now. Mignon Clyburn, the first woman to chair the FCC, is about to get her spot on the wall.

Chairwoman Clyburn isn’t President Barack Obama’s choice to lead the commission. That distinction goes to venture capitalist Tom Wheeler. But she’ll helm the agency as acting chairwoman until he is confirmed, a process that’s likely to drag on for months. And she’ll be in charge at a time when the agency is dealing with major decisions from media ownership to spectrum auctions to the SoftBank-Sprint deal.