Susan Ness

Susan Ness

Principal, Susan Ness Strategies; Former FCC Commissioner
Age: 72 
Director since: 2011

TEGNA Committees:
• Executive
• Nominating and Governance
• Public Policy and Regulation (Chair)

Professional Experience:
Ms. Ness is a principal of Susan Ness Strategies, a communications policy consulting firm, which she founded in 2002. She is also a Distinguished Fellow at The German Marshall Fund of the United States and at the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, positions she has held since 2018. She served as a commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission from 1994 to 2001. From 2005 to 2007, she was the founding president and CEO of GreenStone Media, LLC, which produced talk programming targeting female audiences. Previously, Ms. Ness held positions of increasing responsibility at American Security Bank, which she left in 1992 as a Corporate Vice President & Group Head with a broadcast and media portfolio. She has served on the Board of Vital Voices Global Partnership since 2011 (Audit Committee Chair from 2017 – present), and from 2011 to 2014 she served on the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board (elected Vice Chair in 2012 and 2013). Ms. Ness previously served on the board of LCC International, Inc. from 2001 to 2008, and on the board of Adelphia Communications Corp. from 2003 to 2007, post-bankruptcy filing.

Qualifications and Strategy-Related Experience:

  • Deep knowledge of industry-specific matters including broadcast and spectrum management
  • Extensive experience and expertise in global and domestic communications and media policy
  • Deep regulatory expertise, particularly in the communications sector
  • Experience facilitating the deployment of new communications technologies and advising communications companies
  • Senior lender to broadcast companies