FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:        NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:
  September 21, 1999                 Rosemary Kimball at (202) 418-0500
                              
                              
           SHERILLE ISMAIL NAMED DEPUTY DIRECTOR
    OFFICE OF LEGISLATIVE AND INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS
  
       Sherille Ismail has been named Deputy Director of the Office of Legislative and
  Intergovernmental Affairs.  He will assist the Director by planning, developing, and
  coordinating the FCC's legislative program.  He will also be responsible for handling issues
  such as access charge reform, local and long-distance competition, advanced
  telecommunications services, and international satellite policy. 
  
       Before joining OLIA, he served as a team leader in the Common Carrier Bureau
  and worked on complex proceedings to implement key sections of the 1996 Act.  For the
  past two years he has been a senior attorney at the International Bureau with principal
  responsibility for reviewing the AT&T/British Telecommunications joint venture, the
  Telmex/Sprint proceedings, and other efforts to promote competitive markets overseas.  
  
       Prior to joining the FCC, Ismail served as a senior advisor to Rep. John Conyers,
  Jr., on the Judiciary and Government Operations Committees in the U.S.  House of
  Representatives from 1990 to 1996.  As a staff member on the House-Senate conference
  committee, he participated in the negotiations on the Telecommunications Act of 1996. 
  
       He is a cum laude graduate of Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service
  and Georgetown Law School.  In his leisure time, he loves to paint.  Ismail lives in North
  Potomac, MD, with his wife, Yezoola, and three young daughters, Sumaiya, Raisha, and
  Tahira.
  
                          - FCC -