The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES), a premier research and educational institution working to understand and manage our world’s natural resources, welcomes Gary M. Epstein as Chair of its Board of Visitors. Epstein is Managing Director of 4270E, LLC specializing in telecom law and policy, arbitration and mediation, and a Senior Advisor to Auctionomics, Inc. advising on high stakes spectrum auctions. The UMCES Board of Visitors provides advice and counsel to the President on matters pertaining to public outreach, development, and policy issues.
“Gary has been deeply engaged as a member of our Board of Visitors since 2017, and I am excited that he is our new chair,” said UMCES Interim President Bill Dennison. “He will bring great of energy and experience to this role, particularly as we move toward our 100th anniversary and launch new initiatives such as the Chesapeake Global Collaboratory.”
Epstein was the founder and Global Chair of the Communications Practice Group of Latham & Watkins, a national and international law firm. For 25 years he led the firm’s telecommunications law practice, advising companies on United States regulations of telecommunications, satellite, and broadcast providers. He also advised non-US governments and investors on privatizations and restructurings of telecom sectors and companies on such policies as U.S. ownership restrictions and authorizations for international services. He was chair of the FCC Incentive Auction Task Force that led implementation of the world’s first-ever broadcast incentive spectrum auction under the Spectrum Act passed by Congress in 2012.
At the FCC, he served as the Digital Television Coordinator during the digital television transition and as Chief of the Common Carrier Bureau when the Bureau had jurisdiction over telecommunications, commercial wireless, satellite and international communications matters. Previously, he was Managing Director and General Counsel of the Aspen Institute International Digital Economy Accords Project, designed to identify ways to promote innovation, market access opportunities and promote the free flow of communications across borders on an open Internet.
Epstein graduated from Lehigh University with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, with highest honors. He graduated from Harvard Law School with a JD, with honors. Gary and his wife, Jeralyn Epstein, have two children and three grandchildren.
He has served on the UMCES Board of Visitors since 2017 and succeeds Charlie Monk, formerly managing partner of the Baltimore office of the national law firm Saul Ewing, who joined the Board of Visitors in 2009 and has served as Chair since 2015.
