News - March 31, 2023

INCOMPAS CEO Chip Pickering Dedicates His Papers to Mississippi State University

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This afternoon the Mississippi Political Collections unit of the Mississippi State University Libraries will host a public ceremony commemorating the formal dedication of the papers of INCOMPAS CEO and former Congressman Charles W. "Chip" Pickering and his father Charles W. Pickering. The ceremony will feature a panel discussion including former U.S. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and former two-term Governor Haley Barbour. 

Chip started his career as a Senate staffer in Sen. Lott's office. He worked on many of the policies that served as the foundation of the 1996 Telecommunications Act, which was the first major overhaul of the Telecommunications Act of 1934. After his time in Sen. Lott's office, he ran for Congress and was elected in 1996 to represent Mississippi's Third District. 

"Between the '90s and the early 2000s, the country was reforming all of our telecom laws and really reforming all of the different depression era laws to create the policies that shaped today's economy," said Pickering. "It was the greatest period of legislative reform - we shifted from monopolies to competition policies across multiple sectors including energy and telecom, transportation, finance, and healthcare." 

As a freshman Representative, Chip served as the Chair of the Basic Research Subcommittee on the Science Committee amid the transition of government-owned and operated internet to the commercial internet as we know it today.  Later in his tenure, he served as Vice Chair of the prestigious Energy and Commerce Committee and was the founding Chairman of the Congressional Wireless Caucus. As the wireless industry emerged and began to flourish, he was able to shape the founding laws and actions that gave us robust wireless networks and multiple generations of technologies and applications.  

"From my time as a Senate staffer to my 12 years in Congress, I worked on solutions to spur competition, advance technological innovation, and expand economic growth and opportunity for all Mississippians," Pickering added. "Now, I am fortunate to continue shaping policy in a different role and responsibility by building coalitions and advocating before the Administration, agencies and Congress to ensure a continuation of good competition policy across all broadband and technology networks."