Donald Abelson
President, Sudbury International, LLC
Bachelor's Degree, Sarah Lawrence College (1972); Master's Degree, International Economics, School of Advanced International Studies at John Hopkins University (SAIS) (1975)
Don Abelson is president of his own consulting company, Sudbury International, LLC, based in Washington, D.C. and Vermont, which serves a global client base by offering advice on a wide range of issues including regulatory policy, spectrum management and communications-related strategy. Abelson also provides his services as an expert witness and is on the steering committees of the European Institute's telecommunications group. He served as a non-resident fellow at USC's Annenberg Center for Communication (2006-2007).
Abelson worked for the U.S. Government for 30 years, most recently as the Chief of the International Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 1999 to 2006. In this capacity, he directed the FCC's international activities, including the approval of international telecom services, the assignment of spectrum and the granting of licensing for satellite facilities. Abelson managed the FCC's provision of technical advice to developing countries on regulatory matters and to the U.S. Executive Branch regarding trade negotiations and the activities of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) (including, the World Radiocommunications Conferences) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Abelson came to the FCC with extensive experience in international communications trade and regulatory issues. In 1998 and 1999, he served as an Assistant U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), during which time he led USTR's effort to facilitate global electronic commerce over the Internet. Prior to that assignment, Abelson was the lead U.S. negotiator of the World Trade Organization's (WTO) "Basic Telecommunications Agreement" (1994-1998). These negotiations resulted in a precedent-setting agreement on global local, long-distance and international services delivered by wire, wireless and satellite technologies.
In 1993, Abelson was the senior U.S. negotiator on the WTO's General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and on the Agreement on Trade-Related Intellectual Property (TRIPs). In previous assignments at USTR, Abelson led the U.S. team that secured trade deals on telecommunications terminal attachment practices with Japan (1983-1985) and Europe (1985-1988). And, for a decade between 1977 and 1987, Abelson was the chief negotiator on standards-related trade issues.
