William Earl Kennard, born January 19, 1957, in Hollywood, California, to architect Robert A. Kennard and Helen Kennard, is an American attorney and former government official. He earned a B.A. with distinction in communications from Stanford University in 1978 (inducted into Phi Beta Kappa) and a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1981. Kennard began his career as a legal fellow (1981-1982) and assistant general counsel (1983-1984) for the National Association of Broadcasters, and as an associate (1982-1983) and partner (1984-1993) at the law firm Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson & Hand (now DLA Piper). He served as FCC General Counsel from 1993 to 1997, and as the first African American Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 1997 to 2001. In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed him United States Ambassador to the European Union, a role he held until 2013. He later served as Chairman of the Board of AT&T. Kennard married attorney Deborah Kennedy on April 19, 1984, and has advocated throughout his career for expanded opportunities in communications and wireless technologies.