The Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) – which is overseeing the distribution of billions of dollars worth of broadband expansion funding – has added two new senior officials to the agency’s lineup.
Russ Hanser will serve as NTIA’s new associate administrator for policy analysis and development, and Amanda Toman will become program lead for the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund, an agency spokesperson confirmed to MeriTalk.
In his new role, Hanser will be responsible for NTIA’s work on privacy, cybersecurity, intellectual property, algorithmic decision-making, digital equity, and content moderation.
Hanser was a senior policy adviser on technology and telecommunication issues for Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo. He also led the policy team that designed NTIA’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program. Hanse has also worked for the Federal Communications Bar Association, a non-profit organization dedicated to the study, development, interpretation, and practice of communications and information technology law and policy.
Toman, a long-time IT expert, is taking over as program led for the Public Wireless Supply Chain Innovation Fund – authorized under the fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act and funded through the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022. The $1.5 billion ten-year grant program will help drive U.S. wireless innovation, foster competition, and strengthen supply chain resilience.
Toman comes to NTIA from the Department of Defense (DoD) where she spent the last years coordinating 5G efforts across the department including directing the department’s “5G to Next G” research and development portfolio, and advising the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering on 5G-related topics. Toman joined the DoD in 2012 as a program manager.
Before she joined the public sector, Toman worked for several private sector organizations, including SAIC where she worked as a program analyst from 2007 to 2011 leading numerous research and development projects.
