This July, Silicon Flatirons and the ATLAS Institute co-sponsored a course on Managing Effectively in a Changing Telecommunications Environment. The intensive, one-week course focused on: (1) effective management techniques; (2) the telecommunications climate; and (3) efficient operational decisions.
This July, Silicon Flatirons and the ATLAS Institute co-sponsored a course on Managing Effectively in a Changing Telecommunications Environment. The intensive, one-week course focused on: (1) effective management techniques; (2) the telecommunications climate; and (3) efficient operational decisions.
The course was a joint-effort with the United States Telecommunications Training Institute (USTTI), a non-profit public-private partnership between senior federal officials and leaders of the U.S. information and communication technology (ICT) and broadcast industries. The USTTI seeks to “share the United States’ technological and managerial advances with qualified women and men who regulate and maintain the IT and communications infrastructures throughout the developing world” (http://ustti.org). The USTTI brought twenty-one telecommunications regulators and executives from around the world to Boulder for the course. Participants came from Bangladesh, Bermuda, Ehtiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mongolia, Nepal, Nigeria, Peru, Suriname, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
In addition to the USTTI participants, eleven University of Colorado students participated in the course. The majority were graduate students in the Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program, though students also came from the Aerospace and Engineering Management programs.
The course featured lectures by CU faculty, as well as by outside experts. It began with a technological overview by Dale Hatfield, former Chief Technologist of the FCC (and Executive Director of Silicon Flatirons). Members of the CU faculty generously gave up part of their summer break to teach portions of the course: Chris Cadwell discussed innovation, marketing, and business strategy in high technology; Melinda Cain talked about Cooperation in the midst of cultural differences; Bob Kois gave an introduction to project management strategies; Kai Larsen talked about managing a privacy breach; Paul Ohm gave legal and technical perspectives on data privacy and security; and Scott Savage discussed the economics of telecommunications. The ATLAS Institute hosted a lunch for all of the students where Revi Sterling and Robyn Sandekian gave an overview of CU’s development efforts.
Outside experts were also extremely generous with their time. Bryan Tramont, a partner at Wilkinson Barker Knauer and former Chairman Powell’s Chief of Staff at the FCC, gave an overview of the emerging regulatory landscape. Tramont also led a discussion with Jeffrey Cohen, Senior Legal Counsel for the FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau. Richard Green, the President and CEO of CableLabs, gave a tour of the CableLabs facilities and spoke about project management and standards development. Jeff Battin, a consultant with Perficient, spoke about team building and strategies for effective collaboration. Bill Ernstrom, a successful entrepreneur, discussed managing in times of rapid change. The course concluded with a Keynote Address by Phil Weiser, Founder of the Silicon Flatirons Center and Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice.