The man who led the development of the Federal Communication Commission’s broadband plan, and has generated his share of controversy, is leaving the agency.

Blair Levin, executive director of the broadband initiative at the commission, will become a communications and society fellow at the Aspen Institute as he leaves the FCC on May 7.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski praised Levin’s work, saying it is “beyond measure.”

Before his broadband plan effort at the agency, Levin co-headed the Technology, Innovation & Government Reform Policy Working Group of President Obama’s Technology Transition Team along with Genachowski.

Levin, an attorney, served as chief of staff to FCC Chairman Reed Hundt from 1993 to 1997, where he oversaw the implementation of the 1996 Telecommunications Reform Act. He was also a managing director at the investment firm Stifel Nicolaus.

Charles Firestone, executive director of the Communications and Society Program at the Aspen Institute, characterized Levin as “one of the premier communications strategists in the country.”

At the institute, Levin, said he can reflect on the impact of the national broadband plan, particularly its international applications.

Related:
Read Levin’s January speech “Wired for Social Justice” to the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council's Broadband and Social Justice Summit