Gloria Tristani

Gloria Tristani served from 1997 to 2001 as the first Hispanic woman member of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, she is married to Judge Gerard W. Thomson and is the mother of Vanesa and Jorge. A graduate of Barnard College, she obtained her Juris Doctor at the University of New Mexico School of Law. She is the granddaughter of Dennis Chavez, who served as a New Mexico's United States Senator for 32 years, from 1931 to 1962.

An attorney in private practice in Albuquerque and admitted to the bar in New Mexico and Colorado, in 1994 she was elected to New Mexico's State Corporation Commission (SCC) and served as its Chair in 1996 prior to being appointed by President Bill Clinton to the FCC on September 15, 1997. She resigned in 2001 to run as the Democratic candidate for United States Senator from New Mexico in the 2002 elections. Defeated by Republican Sen. Pete Domenici, she returned to private practice.

While on New Mexico's SCC, she advocated on behalf of consumers rights regarding health insurance and telecommunications, helping draft rules regulating managed care and HMOs and helping draft the New Mexico Mothers and Newly Born Children Rule. While serving on the FCC, she pushed for broadband deployment to remote areas, served as the chair of the FCC's V-Chip Task Force, fought children's exposure to violence and indecency and supported the so-called E-rate for libraries and schools.

In 2000, the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO) awarded her the Edward R. Roybal Award for Outstanding Public Service and was selected as Hispanic Business magazine's as one the nation's 100 most influential Hispanics for the years 1996 and 1998.

ources

*http://www.nndb.com/people/370/000087109/
*http://www.techlawjournal.com/people/tristani.htm
*http://www.fcc.gov/commissioners/previous/tristani/biography.html