Dana Shaffer

An experienced Arlington County leader, Dana R. Shaffer presently leads the Office of Engineering and Technology of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as Deputy Chief and Chief of Staff. She oversees the agency’s legal, policy, and engineering teams on licensing, spectrum allocation, and national security matters, and oversees the world’s largest database of RF equipment assessment, conformity testing, and authorization. Dana R. Shaffer gained early experience with the FCC in 2006 as a senior leader in communications policy, and, as Charter Deputy Chief of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, she led the launch of the FCC's Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau, which ensures reliable communications in a variety of scenarios, and oversees regulatory requirements spanning communications carriers and providers.

Ms. Shaffer attended the Vanderbilt University School of Law as a Milton Underwood Scholar. She was Captain of the Jessup International Moot Court team, Associate Editor of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, and Associate Justice of the Moot Court Board. She graduated Order of the Coif and was a Judicial Clerk to The Honorable Eugene Siler, Jr. with the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. This position required preparing memoranda, reviewing filings, and drafting majority opinions, even when there was strong panel dissent.

Before joining the FCC, Ms. Shaffer was Vice President and Legal and Regulatory Counsel for XO Communications, where she oversaw sustained expansion efforts for a pioneering telecom provider. During this time, she served as president of the Southeastern Competitive Carriers’ Association and the Tennessee Telecommunications Association, and was named one of Tennessee's Top 40 Under 40.