WASHINGON: President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Meredith Attwell Baker as commissioner for the Federal Communications Commission. She would be the second Republican on the commission, serving with fellow GOP member Robert McDowell.

Baker has more than twelve years of experience working in the field of telecommunications and technology policy in both the public and private sector. She most recently served as Acting Assistant Secretary of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration from 2007 to January 2009.

She was previously vice president at the firm of Williams Mullen Strategies, where she focused on telecommunications, intellectual property, and international trade issues. Earlier, she held the position of Senior Counsel at Covad Communications from 2000 to 2002, and Director of Congressional Affairs at the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association from 1998 to 2000. Baker worked at the U.S. Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit in Houston and later at the law firm of DeLange and Hudspeth, L.L.P. From 1990 to 1992, she worked in the Legislative Affairs Office of the U.S. Department of State in Washington.

She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington & Lee University in 1990 and a law degree from the University of Houston in 1994. She is a member of the Texas State Bar.