The US Federal Communications Commission’s Enforcement Bureau named former Verizon executive Andy Hendrickson as its CTO to advise on technological developments and investigations.

The Enforcement Bureau is responsible for ensuring compliance with the FCC’s Communications Act, which includes regulations as well as various licencing terms and conditions.

In the newly created CTO role, the FCC stated Hendrickson would strengthen the bureau’s technical expertise around privacy, data protection, cybersecurity and network outages.  

He also provides support for the FCC’s Privacy and Data Protection Task Force, which was created by chair Jessica Rosenworcel.

The Privacy and Data Protection Task Force works across the FCC on rulemaking, enforcement and public awareness in the privacy and data protection sector, including breaches by service providers.

Hendrickson held several positions at Verizon over the past nine years, most recently serving as its senior director of technology. He was involved in the rollout of the operator’s 5G network and the engineering and operations of the Verizon Cloud Platform. 

Loyaan A Egal, chief of the Enforcement Bureau and chair of the Privacy and Data Protection Task Force, stated Hendrickson’s expertise and understanding of how communications networks operate “will only enhance our investigatory capabilities”.