BALTIMORE — Sinclair Broadcast Group announced that Rebecca Hanson has been named senior vice president of Strategy and Policy and will be responsible for the development and oversight of a new Washington office dedicated to a broad range of policy and business matters. Hanson will report to Sinclair President and CEO David Smith and will join Sinclair on Jan. 2, 2014.
Hanson comes to Sinclair from the Media Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission, where she was senior advisor on broadcast spectrum and served on the Incentive Auction Task Force as the point person for broadcaster participation and issues affecting non-participating broadcasters.
Prior to joining the FCC from 2007 to 2009, she was the vice president of Strategic Initiatives at Sprint Nextel, where she was responsible for the launch and long-term growth strategy for the WiMAX network and a member of the deal team leading the financing and merger with Clearwire for a national spectrum footprint.
From 2006 to 2007, she was a consultant focusing on business planning and deal execution for various digital media companies. Prior to that and from 2000, she held the positions of senior vice president of business development and vice president and deputy general counsel at XM Satellite Radio, where she was the lead negotiator for key strategic alliances and partnerships in the areas of programming, marketing, distribution, acquisitions/joint ventures and product development.
She began her career as an attorney with Brownstein and Zeidman from 1993 to 1996 and then Shaw Pittman (now Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman) from 1996 to 2000, where she specialized in the areas of technology, commercial finance, and venture capital.
