AT&T appoints former FCC head as board chairman

(Reuters) - AT&T Inc on Friday named former U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) head William Kennard as chairman of the wireless carrier's board, effective January 2021.

Kennard, who joined the company's board in 2014, served as general counsel to FCC from 1993 to 1997, and was then appointed as FCC chairman, a position he held until 2001. He would be the first African American to be the company's chairman in its over 130-year-old history.

AT&T had announced earlier this year that it would elect a new chairman, following the retirement of Randall Stephenson.

Kennard currently serves on the boards of Duke Energy Corp, Ford Motor Co and MetLife Inc and is the co-founder of private equity firm Astra Capital Management.

(Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)