NEWS
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th 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 CONTACT:
June 15, 2012 Matthew Berry, (202) 418-2005
Email: Matthew.Berry@fcc.gov
FCC COMMISSIONER AJIT V. PAI ANNOUNCES NEW STAFF
Washington, DC – FCC Commissioner Ajit V. Pai today announced the appointment of Nicholas 
Degani as his Legal Advisor focusing on wireline issues.  “I am delighted that Nick has agreed to 
join our team,” said Commissioner Pai.  “His breadth and depth of knowledge along with his 
engineering background will be a tremendous asset to our office.  I especially look forward to 
Nick’s wise counsel as we continue down the challenging path of reforming universal service 
and intercarrier competition.”
“I also want to thank Gene Fullano, who will soon be leaving our office and returning to the 
Public Safety & Homeland Security Bureau,” Commissioner Pai added.  “Gene has played an 
invaluable role in getting our office up and running; I could not have done it without him.  He 
has been an exceptionally effective member of our staff, and our loss is the Bureau’s gain.”  
Nicholas Degani comes to Commissioner Pai’s office from a detail to the U.S. House of 
Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce, where he served as counsel under 
Chairman Fred Upton and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Chairman Greg 
Walden.  His portfolio included communications issues and agencies, with a focus on the 
Universal Service Fund, intercarrier compensation, privacy, cybersecurity, agency jurisdiction 
and spending, and the administrative process.
Before his detail, Mr. Degani served as an Attorney Advisor in the Wireline Competition 
Bureau’s Telecommunications Access Policy Division, where he worked on issues related to the 
Universal Service Fund’s low-income and schools and libraries programs, as well as 
contributions and eligible-telecommunications-carrier issues.  Mr. Degani has also worked in the 
Commission’s Office of General Counsel and the Wireline Competition Bureau’s Competition 
Policy Division, where he worked on pole attachment issues, transaction review, broadband 
policy, and numbering issues related to Internet-based Telecommunications Relay Services.  Mr. 
Degani entered the Commission through the Attorney Honors Program in 2007.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Degani served as a law clerk for Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the United 
States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.  He graduated cum laude from Harvard Law 
School and magna cum laude from Yale University, where he studied Electrical 
Engineering/Computer Science and History.