Robert M. McDowell was nominated by President George W. Bush to a seat on the Federal Communications Commission on February 6, 2006, for the remainder of the term expiring June 30, 2009. He was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on May 26, 2006, and sworn in as FCC Commissioner on June 1, 2006.

Commissioner McDowell brings to the FCC approximately sixteen years of private sector experience in the communications industry. Immediately prior to joining the FCC, Commissioner McDowell was senior vice president and assistant general counsel for COMPTEL, an association representing competitive facilities-based telecommunications service providers, emerging VoIP providers, integrated communications companies, and their supplier partners, where he had responsibilities involving advocacy efforts before Congress, the White House and executive agencies. He has served on the North American Numbering Council (NANC) and on the board of directors of North American Numbering Plan Billing and Collection, Inc. (NBANC).

Prior to joining COMPTEL in February 1999, McDowell served as the executive vice president and general counsel of America's Carriers Telecommunications Association (ACTA), which merged with COMPTEL at that time.

McDowell was graduated cum laude from Duke University in 1985. After serving as chief legislative aide to a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, he attended the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary. Upon his graduation from law school, McDowell joined the Washington, D.C., office of Arter & Hadden, a national law firm based in Cleveland.

Extensively involved in civic and political affairs, McDowell has served on numerous boards and commissions. He was appointed by Virginia Governor George Allen to the Governor's Advisory Board for a Safe and Drug-Free Virginia, and to the Virginia Board for Contractors, to which he was reappointed by Governor Jim Gilmore. A veteran of several presidential campaigns, he was counsel to the Bush-Cheney Florida Recount Team in 2000. His work during the 1992 presidential campaign is cited in the Almanac of American Politics, 1994. Among his other endeavors, McDowell has twice been a candidate for the Virginia General Assembly. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of the McLean Project for the Arts.

McDowell is admitted to practice law before the courts of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia, First, Fourth and Fifth Circuits and the U.S. Supreme Court. He resides in Fairfax County, Va., on the farm where he grew up, with his wife Jennifer and their three children.