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 NEWS  Federal  Communications  Commission  445  12  th  Street,  S.  W.  Washington,  D.  C.  20554  This  is  an  unofficial  announcement  of  Commission  action.  Release  of  the  full  text  of  a  Commission  order  constitutes  official  action.  See  MCI  v.  FCC.  515  F  2d  385  (D.  C.  Circ  1974).  News  Media  Information  202  /  418-  0500  Internet:  http://  www.  fcc.  gov  TTY:  1-  888-  835-  5322 
 FOR  IMMEDIATE  RELEASE  NEWS  MEDIA  CONTACT:  January  3,  2006  Aaron  Goldberger  at  (202)  418-  2500 
 DEBORAH  TAYLOR  TATE  SWORN  IN  AS  FCC  COMMISSIONER 
 Washington,  D.  C.  –  Deborah  Taylor  Tate  was  sworn  in  today  by  Chairman  Kevin  J.  Martin  as  a  member  of  the  Federal  Communications  Commission  (FCC). 


 Before  joining  the  FCC,  Tate  was  appointed  by  former  Governor  Don  Sundquist  to  serve  a  six-  year  term  as  a  Director  of  the  Tennessee  Regulatory  Authority  (TRA),  where  she  served  as 
 Chairman  from  2003-  2004.  In  that  position,  she  also  had  been  appointed  to  the  Federal-  State  Joint  Board  on  Advanced  Telecommunications  Services.  As  a  member  of  the  national  utilities 
 association  (NARUC),  she  was  Chairman  of  the  Washington  Action  Committee,  and  was  on  both  the  Consumer  Affairs  and  Gas  Committees. 


 Prior  to  her  service  at  the  TRA,  Tate  served  as  an  attorney  and  senior  policy  advisor  to  former  Governor  Lamar  Alexander  and  former  Governor  Don  Sundquist.  She  specifically 
 served  as  a  senior  mental  health  and  juvenile  justice  policy  advisor,  and  was  instrumental  in  the  creation  and  implementation  of  a  statewide  plan  establishing  a  Mental  Health  Revision 
 Commission  culminating  in  the  passage  of  an  entire  new  mental  health  law  for  Tennessee. 
 Tate  earned  her  B.  A.  and  J.  D.  degrees  from  the  University  of  Tennessee,  and  also  attended  Vanderbilt  University  Law  School.  Certified  as  a  Rule  31  Mediator  by  the  Tennessee 


 Supreme  Court,  she  is  a  member  of  the  Nashville  Bar  Association  and  the  Lawyer’s  Association  for  Women  (L.  A.  W.),  and  was  inducted  as  a  Fellow  by  the  Nashville  Bar  Foundation.  On  the 
 University  level,  Commissioner  Tate  was  the  Director  of  the  State  and  Local  Policy  Center  at  Vanderbilt  Institute  for  Public  Policy  Studies,  served  on  the  adjunct  faculty  of  the  Vanderbilt 
 School  of  Nursing,  and  as  a  guest  lecturer  at  the  Vanderbilt  University  Law  School. 
 A  native  of  Murfreesboro,  Tennessee,  Tate  is  married  to  William  H.  Tate,  a  partner  in  the  law  firm  of  Howard,  Tate,  Sowell,  Wilson  and  Boyte.  They  have  three  children,  Will,  Taylor 


 and  Carlton,  and  reside  in  Nashville,  Tennessee.  Commissioner  Tate  is  the  daughter  of  the  late  Brigadier  General  and  Mrs.  Louis  Carlton  Taylor  of  Clay  County,  Tennessee. 


 Tate  was  sworn  in  for  a  term  that  runs  until  June  30,  2007. 
 -  FCC  - 
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