S. Jenell Trigg, a former broadcast television sales and marketing executive spanning a sixteen-year advertising career in the Chicago and Baltimore markets is Chair of Lerman Senter PLLC's Intellectual Property and New Media & Technology Practice Group. In addition to her varied practice in the broadcast, wireless, cable, and telecommunications industries, Ms. Trigg specializes in privacy and data security issues, intellectual property concerns, and government regulation of the Internet and new technologies. She is accredited as a Certified Information Privacy Professional (CIPP) through the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). She advises clients on a wide range of privacy and data security matters, including email and mobile advertising and marketing, Payment Card Industry - Data Security Standards, security breach notification and identity theft, and website development.
Ms. Trigg is also a recognized authority on small business, women and minority telecommunications business issues from an industry, regulatory, and legislative perspective, and has worked with the FCC's Federal Advisory Committee on Diversity for Communications in the Digital Age as a consultant and subject matter expert since its inception. She is also a member of the FCC Diversity Committee's Funding Acquisition Taskforce. She has been involved in the enactment and implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, including its stimulus funds for broadband and the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) development of the National Broadband Plan as a consultant to governmental, industry, and public interest organizations, and as a panelist and/or consultant for various FCC workshops.
Prior to private practice, Ms. Trigg served as Assistant Chief Counsel for Telecommunications for the Office of Advocacy, United States Small Business Administration, where she directed Advocacy's involvement in all telecommunications and Internet issues and proceedings before the FCC, other federal and state government agencies, the White House, and Congress. She was also the first Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer for The Telecom Opportunity Institute, a non-profit corporation that promotes career and training opportunities in telecommunications for disadvantaged youth, minorities and women. The Institute was recognized in its first year by then-Vice President Al Gore at the White House Empowerment Zone Annual Conference in McAllen, Texas in 1999.
While in law school, Ms. Trigg worked at the FCC, first as a full-time Law Clerk to Commissioners Rachelle B. Chong and Susan Ness, in addition to a part-time Law Clerk to then-General Counsel, William E. Kennard, former FCC Chairman. She was also the Senior Telecommunications Policy Analyst for the Office of Communications Business Opportunities where she worked on the FCC's initial implementation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and coordinated the FCC's compliance with the Regulatory Flexibility Act, as amended by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996.
Prior to the FCC, Ms. Trigg was National Sales Manager and Director of Marketing for WJZ-TV, the now-CBS Corporation owned and operated television station in Baltimore, Maryland. She also worked at the NBC and Fox owned and operated stations in Chicago as a Senior Account Executive, and was involved in the launch of the market's first Ten O'clock News as Director of Marketing for WBFF, FOX 45 in Baltimore.
A 1978 graduate of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois with a B.S. in Speech, Ms. Trigg received her juris doctor degree magna cum laude from The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law. She also received certification from the law school's Institute for Communications Law Studies with honors and was one of the first evening students to complete the entire program. Ms. Trigg was also a 2003 Fellow in the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation's Broadcast Leadership Training (BLT) Program and currently serves as a member of the BLT faculty.
Ms. Trigg is admitted to practice before the Maryland Court of Appeals, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Third and Tenth Circuits, as well as the Supreme Court of the United States of America. She is a member of the Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA) and American Bar Association (ABA). She is the founding co-chair of the FCBA's Privacy & Data Security Committee, and as the founding Co-Chair of the ABA/FCBA's Annual Privacy & Data Security Symposium, serves as a member of the ABA Communications Law Forum Governing Committee. She is also a member of the Advisory Boards for the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council and Morgan State University's School of Global Journalism and Communication. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Delta Research and Educational Foundation. Ms. Trigg is a founding member of the National Association of Multicultural Digital Entrepreneurs, a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals, and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., A Public Service Sorority. She is a past president of Catholic University's Communications Law Institute Alumni Association and serves as a mentor to many law school students, law school and college graduates, and young professionals across the country.
Ms. Trigg is the 2012 recipient of the United Church of Christ's Office of Communications prestigious Donald H. McGannon Award in recognition of her work to promote opportunities in telecommunications media for women and persons of color. Her awards and recognition also include the FCBA's Distinguished Service Award, MMTC's Extraordinary Service Award and Distinguished Pro Bono Award, the CUA Law School Alumni Society Award for academic excellence and service to the law school and community, and numerous Who's Who registries.
Ms. Trigg has served as a speaker and presenter at numerous telecommunications, Internet/privacy, small business, finance and civil rights conferences hosted by organizations such as the FCC, National Association of Broadcasters, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, IAPP, MMTC and the NAACP.