Kathleen Abernathy

Kathleen. Abernathy recently joined the law firm of Wilkinson Barker Knauer, LLP as Special Counsel following her retirement from Frontier Communications. She first joined Frontier in 2006 as a member of the Board of Directors following her term as a Commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). In 2010 she accepted the position of Chief Legal Officer and Executive Vice President, Regulatory and Governmental Affairs. Over the next seven years she was on the senior leadership team that oversaw three major strategic acquisitions that eventually grew Frontier to a Fortune 250 company. She was responsible for obtaining the state and federal regulatory approvals critical to the growth of the company. At retirement she was Executive Vice President, External Affairs.

She is also a member of the Board of Directors of ISO New England, a regional energy transmission organization authorised by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and is a Senior Industry and Innovation Fellow with Georgetown University’s Center for Business and Public Policy, McDonough School of Business. Prior to her term as an FCC Commissioner, Ms Abernathy worked for a number of different telecommunications companies and law firms.

She has received numerous awards in recognition of her professional accomplishments and has taught as an adjunct professor at Georgetown University Law Center and Catholic University’s Columbus School of Law.