FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 1, 2000
                                
                                
                                
                       MARY BETH RICHARDS
           NAMED DEPUTY CHIEF, COMMON CARRIER BUREAU

Mary Beth Richards has been appointed Deputy Chief of the Common Carrier Bureau on
an interim basis.

FCC Chairman William E. Kennard said, ""Mary Beth Richards' deep expertise in
Common Carrier matters is well known both inside and outside the agency, and she is one of the
agency's finest managers.  I am delighted that she has agreed to take on this new challenge."

For the past three years, Richards has served as the FCC's Deputy Managing Director.
Prior to that appointment she has held various management positions including Deputy Chief of
the Common Carrier Bureau, Special Counsel to the Commission for Reinventing Government,
and Chief of the Enforcement Divisions of the Common Carrier Bureau and the former Field
Operations Bureau.  She also served as Legal Advisor to the Chief of the Common Carrier
Bureau and was a staff attorney in the Common Carrier and the former Private Radio Bureau.

She received her J.D. from the Catholic University of America and her B.A. from the
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.  She is the recipient of the Meritorious
Executive Presidential Rank Award, the Federal Communications Commission's Gold Medal
Award and the Eugene C. Bowler Award.

                            - FCC -