FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
  August 2, 1999
                              
    MARK D. SCHNEIDER APPOINTED SENIOR LEGAL ADVISOR TO
       COMMISSIONER NESS EFFECTIVE SEPTEMBER 1, 1999
                              
                              
  Commissioner Susan Ness today announced her appointment of Mark D. Schneider as her
  Senior Legal Advisor, effective September 1, 1999.  Mr. Schneider will focus primarily on
  wireless and international issues.   As Senior Legal Advisor, he will also provide support
  on a wide range of issues coming before the Commission, as well as serve as the principal
  press contact for Commissioner Ness.
  
  Mr. Schneider is currently a partner with Sidley & Austin, an international law firm,
  resident in the firm's Washington, D.C., office.  He joined Sidley & Austin as an associate
  in 1984, and became a partner in 1992.  He has specialized in communications for more
  than 15 years, with experience in a broad range of areas including wireless, international,
  mass media and cable, common carrier, private radio and equipment authorization.  He has
  represented a wide variety of entities in litigation and rulemaking before the Commission
  and the Courts.  Mr. Schneider has co-chaired the Wireless Telecommunications Practice
  Committee of the Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) for the past two
  years, and also has served as a member of the FCBA's Nominations Committee.  He
  recently was appointed to a one-year term as a member of the Board of Trustees of the
  FCBA Foundation, and currently is in the final year of a three-year term as a Member of
  the Governing Committee of the American Bar Association's Forum on Communications.
  
  Mr. Schneider received his Juris Doctor, magna cum laude, from the Georgetown
  University Law Center in 1984, after having received his Bachelor of Arts degree from
  Haverford College.  While at the Georgetown University Law Center, Mr. Schneider
  served as an Executive Editor of the Georgetown Law Journal.
  
  Mr. Schneider lives with his wife, Lisa, and their two children, Jeffrey and Allison, in
  McLean, Virginia.
  
  In announcing the appointment, Commissioner Ness said, "I am delighted that Mark has
  agreed to join my staff. He is deeply committed to serving the public.  With his wealth of
  experience, I am confident that he will make an outstanding contribution to my office and
  to the work of the Commission."
  
                          - FCC -