Dale Hatfield is a spectrum management policy expert with over four decades of experience in telecommunications policy, regulation and spectrum management, and was instrumental in the technical implementation and allocation of spectrum that we all benefit from today.
An early interest in radio systems led Dale to study engineering. Fascinated with not just building communication systems, he wanted to learn how they worked as well. Dale received his B.S. in electrical engineering from Case Institute of Technology and an M.S. in Industrial Management from Purdue University.
Dale’s first big break was working at the Central Radio Propagation Laboratory in Boulder, CO, a job he loved. In the mid-1970s he served the White House as Deputy Chief in the Office of Telecommunications Policy, advising in areas concerning common carrier and mobile communications, and analyzing satellite competition.
Under FCC Chairman Dick Wiley, Dale was appointed Chief of the Office of Plans and Policy, to study how much spectrum was needed for various purposes, evaluating what the bandwidth of the channels should be, assessing technical issues, and determining what level of regulation would best serve the public interest. Through this experience he became an advocate for competitive allocation of spectrum.
From 1979 to 1981, Dale held various positions at the NTIA including Acting Administrator. He authored the Hatfield Report on E-911 service deployment issues. Dale served in rolls at the Dept. of Commerce, and then became CEO of Hatfield Associates, Inc., a telecommunications consulting firm. Dale also taught telecommunications policy and regulation at the University of Colorado. In the late 1990s under FCC Chairman Bill Kennard, Dale was appointed as Chief of the Office on Engineering and Technology. He retired from the FCC and government service in December 2000.
In his career, Dale was the founding Executive Director of the Broadband Internet Technical Advisory Group. He served on the FCC’s Technology Advisory Council and on the Commerce Department’s Spectrum Management Advisory Committee. In 1973, he received the Department of Commerce Silver Medal. Dale received the Attorney General’s Distinguished Service Award, and the FCC’s Gold Medal Award for Distinguished Service. Dale is a Fellow of the Radio Club of America, and is an independent consultant and an adjunct professor in the Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
Inducted into the Wireless Hall of Fame in 2003.