Complete Story
02/15/2017
Meet the man who'll dismantle net neutrality 'with a smile'
Ajit Pai, the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, doesn't let a little thing like a hurricane stop him from his obligations.
When the rest of the East Coast was taking cover from Hurricane Sandy in 2012, then-FCC Commissioner Pai was sitting in his kitchen at his home in northern Virginia, delivering a keynote speech via video conference to attendees at the 4G World Trade show in Chicago.
Pai had been scheduled to give his keynote to the small trade show in person. But Sandy shut down travel to and from Washington, Pai offered to do the address remotely.
"When he was on the big screen, you could see the trees and wind whipping wildly in the midst of the hurricane," said Fred Campbell, the director of the free-market think tank Tech Knowledge and adviser to former FCC Chairman Kevin Martin who helped organize the show. "He calmly delivered his speech and acted as if it was no big deal."
For people who know him well, this is no surprise. Pai often goes out of his way to be nice. He's the kind of person who remembers co-workers' birthdays or your kids' first names. It doesn't matter if you're a congressman from California or the parking attendant at the lot near the FCC's headquarters, Pai offers a folksy and sincere greeting to all. He always has a kind word for colleagues, even when they stand on the opposite side of the aisles.
"He made the chairman's life miserable," said Gigi Sohn, a former adviser to the previous head, Tom Wheeler, in reference to their constant ideological clashes. "But I like him. Everyone likes him."
