FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August  22 , 2000

           OCBO CHIEF FRANCISCO MONTERO TO LEAVE FCC

     Francisco Montero, Director of the FCC's Office of Communications Business
Opportunities (OCBO), will leave the Commission on August 23 to become a partner in
the Washington, DC, law firm of Shaw Pittman.  He will begin at the firm on Tuesday, September
5. 

     Montero was appointed to his present position by FCC Chairman William E. Kennard. 

Chairman Kennard said, "Frank Montero has been an excellent chief of this most
important office.  One of my main goals as chairman has been to encourage small businesses and
all underrepresented communities to get involved in the exciting industries the FCC regulates. 
Frank has been an enthusiastic advocate for this constituency."

The OCBO works to expand opportunities for ownership and employment in the
telecommunications, broadcasting technology industries for entrepreneurs and small business.
OCBO works with entrepreneurs, industry, public interest organizations, and individuals to
provide information about FCC policies, to promote ownership and business opportunities, and to
encourage wide participation in FCC proceedings.

During his tenure, Montero worked extensively with industry, trade associations, financing
institutions and governmental agencies to create business opportunities for entrepreneurs, start-
ups and other small businesses in the telecommunications and technology sectors.  While at the
Commission, OCBO organized an industry roundtable on the use of  unlicensed spectrum for
wireless internet and local area networks, Montero worked on planning the up-coming national
technology summit and assisted the International Bureau to provide small business participation in
the planning of Chairman Kennard's Latin American Initiative. He also participated on the Inter-
Agency Working Group on Advertising Practices and was on the Chairman's Opportunity
Agenda Team.  More recently, he led the team responsible for drafting, compiling and releasing
the Commission's Report to Congress, titled Identifying and Eliminating Market Entry Barriers
for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses under Section 257 of the Communications Act. 

     Before coming to the Commission, Montero was a partner with the Washington, DC,         
    communications law firm of Fisher Wayland Cooper Leader & Zaragaoza, where he           
specialized in representing broadcasting and telecommunications clients in the areas of FCC           
 regulatory counseling, corporate finance, asset and securities acquisitions, intellectual            
property, real estate and commercial transactions.  Before joining Fisher Wayland in 1989 he was
an associate with the law firm of Nixon Hargrave Devans & Doyle.

He is a Co-Chair of the Federal Communications Bar Association's Transactional Practice
Committee. 

Montero is a native of Brooklyn, New York. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree 
with Honors in 1982 from the University of Michigan.  In 1986, he received his Juris Doctor
degree from the George Washington University Law School, where he served on the            
George Washington Law Review.

 He is a member of the District of  Columbia, New York State, Virginia  and New Jersey
Bars, as well as the Federal Communications Bar Association, and the National Hispanic Bar
Association. 

                            - FCC -