REMARKS OF
CHAIRMAN JULIUS GENACHOWSKI
ON THE DEPARTURE OF COMMISSIONER MICHAEL COPPS
And now, our final piece of business today is a bittersweet one. After ten years of service here at 
the Federal Communications Commission, and well over a hundred open meetings, today is 
Commissioner Copps’s last open meeting. 
In a moment, I’d like to give my colleagues a chance to recognize Commissioner Copps and his 
extraordinary career in government, but let me first express my own appreciation for Mike 
Copps as a colleague and friend.
As many of you may know, Commissioner Copps came to Washington in 1970 to serve as 
special assistant to Senator Fritz Hollings. He was, at the time, an assistant professor at Loyola 
University in New Orleans, having just earned his Ph.D in American history from the University 
of North Carolina. He expected to stay in Washington for a couple of years, to work an interest 
in government out of his system, and then to return to the academic life.
Forty one years later, he is still here. The academy’s loss has been the government’s great gain.
Mike Copps served Senator Hollings during the ‘70s and ‘80s, most of that time as his chief of 
staff. During the Clinton Administration he served in the Commerce Department, ultimately as 
an assistant secretary. And for the past ten years he has served with great distinction at the 
Federal Communications Commission, including as Acting Chairman.
There are a great many things to admire about Commissioner Copps, but let me highlight just a 
few.
First of course is his deep and abiding commitment to public service. This is apparent of course 
from his own life and career choices. But for those of us who have been privileged enough to 
work closely with him, it has also been apparent each and every day in the example he has set for 
us all. 
With every decision before him, big or small, his first and last question has always been: How 
will it impact real Americans—young and old, urban or rural, fortunate or less fortunate, 
disabled or not? These are of course the questions that really matter, and it has been a great 
privilege, and a great lesson, to serve alongside a public servant with such a fierce and 
unwavering commitment to the public and the public interest. As Acting Chairman, Mike Copps 
was an exceptional steward of the agency during the DTV transition – an unprecedented 
changeover that would affect most directly the least prepared among us. 
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I want to take a moment to recognize the wit and eloquence Mike Copps brings to his public 
role, a reflection of his passion and vision.
Finally, I want to recognize Mike Copps’s role as a mentor to many leaders in our community –
members of his personal staff and the FCC staff; individuals in private industry and the public 
interest community; folks in Congress and the White House; and, now, in Jessica Rosenworcel, 
as a nominee to join the agency as a Commissioner.  
And through it all, he found a way to be a dedicated, committed family man and leader in his 
community.
On behalf of the agency and its staff, I want to thank his wife Beth, his five children, and his six 
grandchildren – including one on the way - for their sacrifices in allowing him to be such a role 
model here at the Commission.
Commissioner Mike Copps has said he will remain engaged in the issues and continue to fight 
for the things he believes are right. Thankfully, even after his official departure, I think we can 
all rest assured that, indeed, we’ll still have Copps on the beat.  
Please join me in recognizing Commissioner Copps’s outstanding career in public service and in 
service to the FCC.