A former broadcast television sales and marketing executive spanning a sixteen-year career in the Chicago and Baltimore markets, S. Jenell Trigg became a member of the firm in 2006 after serving as Of Counsel for several years. In addition to her varied practice in the broadcast, wireless, cable, and telecommunications industries, Ms. Trigg specializes in offline and Internet privacy and data security issues and government regulation of the Internet. She is accredited as a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP) through the International Association of Privacy Professionals. Ms. Trigg is also a recognized authority on small and minority telecommunications business issues from an industry, regulatory, and legislative perspective and has served on the FCC Federal Advisory Committee for Diversity for Communications in the Digital Age as a subject matter expert.
Prior to joining the firm, Ms. Trigg was a member of the Broadcast and Internet/E-Commerce Practice Groups at the law firm of Fleischman and Walsh in Washington, D.C. Previously, she served as Assistant Chief Counsel for Telecommunications for the Office of Advocacy, United States Small Business Administration, where she directed Advocacy’s involvement in all telecommunications issues and proceedings before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), other federal and state government agencies, the White House, and Congress. In this capacity she served on the National Telecommunications and Information Administration’s ( NTIA) Interagency Task Force on Diversity and EEO, and the FCC’s Advertising Industry Practices Working Group. She was also the first Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer for The Telecom Opportunity Institute (TTOI), a non-profit corporation that promotes career and training opportunities in telecommunications for disadvantaged youth, minorities and women. TTOI was recognized by Vice President Gore at the White House Empowerment Zone Annual Conference in 1999.
While in law school, Ms. Trigg served as a full-time law clerk for Commissioners Rochelle B. Chong and Susan Ness, and as the Senior Telecommunications Policy Analyst for the Office of Communications Business Opportunities at the FCC where she coordinated the FCC’s compliance with the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996. She served also as Lead Articles Editor, CommLaw Conspectus Journal of Law and Policy, and was a Member of the National Moot Court Team, which was the Winner of the 1997 FCBA National Telecommunications Moot Court Competition. Ms. Trigg received certification from the Columbus School of Law's Institute for Communications Law Studies with honors and was one of the first evening students to complete the entire program.
Prior to working at the FCC, Ms. Trigg was the Director of Marketing and National Sales Manager for WJZ-TV (CBS 13) in Baltimore, Maryland. She has also worked at WMAQ-TV (NBC 5) and WFLD-TV (FOX 32) in Chicago, and WBFF-TV (FOX 45) in Baltimore in sales and marketing positions. She also has background in program production and advertising.
Ms. Trigg currently serves on the American Bar Association’s Forum on Communications Law Governing Board, is Co-Chair of the FCBA’s Committee on Relations with Other Bar Associations, is a member of the Board of Directors for the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council and the Delta Research and Educational Foundation. Ms. Trigg was a 2003 Fellow for the National Association of Broadcasters Educational Foundation Broadcast Leadership Training Program. She is also President-elect of the Columbus School of Law Communications Law Institute Alumni Association.
Ms. Trigg is a frequent speaker at telecommunications/media, privacy and data security, civil rights and finance/business association conferences and seminars, including FCC, Congressional and other government sponsored forums on communications policy and small business.
