2011

On March 20, 2011, a major announcement sent shockwaves through the industry – AT&T announced it would acquire fellow nationwide carrier and competitor, T-Mobile, for $39 billion.

Wireless competitors feared this transaction would cripple competition in the wireless market by eliminating one of the most innovative and affordable nationwide carriers. To stop the deal, the red-headed entrepreneur was joined by now COO and comms expert, Katie Barr. (Spoiler alert: they won.)

And we got a real office.

2012

On January 18, 2012, the Internet went dark in a series of coordinated protests against two proposed laws in the United States Congress—the Stop Online Piracy Act and the PROTECT IP Act, otherwise known as SOPA-PIPA. The Glen Echo Group worked with users, companies and the Internet – really – to save the Internet and SOPA is now a verb. Nobody wants to be SOPA-ed. 

We won our first Silver Anvil for Public Affairs and the world learned just how much fun it is to be a teen, unimpressed.

2013

In 2013, with patent trolls, immigration reform and a legal challenge to the FCC’s 2010 Open Internet Order driving the tech policy conversation, the Glen Echo Group grew in size, adding telecom and tech policy vet Ellen Satterwhite to the fold. 

This is the year Wi-Fi got a federal advocate. WifiForward was born, an ad hoc coalition of unlicensed and shared spectrum users working in partnership with Comcast, Charter, NCTA, Google as well as public interest and free market stalwarts like Public Knowledge, New America’s OTI, the American Library Association and the R Street Institute among others. WifiForward made Wi-Fi cool again, no longer the red-headed stepchild of spectrum.  

Maura, a red-headed stepchild herself, has her lower back rebuilt in titanium and Notre Dame’s Manti Te’o gets Catfished though it will be a few years before that’s a verb.

2014

This is the year U2 totally miscalculated how much we wanted to hear its music, creepily inserting its single into every Apple Music user’s account. (Also the year we got this meme.) 

As Glen Echo Group continued to grow, we created the first full day policy gathering at SXSW with our partners CTA, the Consumer Technology Association. The first event featured “panel bombing,” beer and breakfast tacos and live policy conversations. We think that had something to do with Maura Corbett being named PRNEWS’ Woman of the Year. But we’re biased — and maybe buzzed.

Patent Trolls escaped the Innovation Act, the Obama Administration legalized cell phone unlocking and a federal court declared the 2010 version of net neutrality rules unenforceable, setting up for a wild 2015.

2015

In 2015, an uglier side of tech rose to international prominence with Gamergate and a fight with fewer consequences broke out over The Dress. 

While the FTC held its first ever workshop on the Sharing Economy (how quaint) and the Tom Wheeler-led FCC issued new rules for Net Neutrality, the Glen Echo Group dove in. Bolstered by our new colleagues Courtney Cowper and Kris Carpenter, the team worked hard for pro-competitive policies in intellectual property, information access and broadband. 

Do you remember?: Schools, libraries and hospitals were subject to anti-competitive broadband practices. We had to bring attention to this special access issue over objections from the nation’s top telecom providers. So we designed a campaign parodying pharma ads to explain “broadband access control” – a terrible fictional disease – and its cure, COMPETIFY.

2016

As Maura is fond of saying, “Leon’s Getting LARGER!” and we needed a bigger office in 2016 to accommodate new team members including design specialist Wren Dillingham. After a very loud month in a WeWork, we were treated to a sparkling new space with beer and cold brew on tap as well as plenty of spots to collaborate, create and convene. 

While the year is a bit of a blur, we remember: Maura was named to DC Inno’s 50onFire and had both her jaws rebuilt in titanium, we won an award for our policy work on COMPETIFY, the British public voted to call a research vessel Boaty McBoatface and the Chicago Cubs won the World Series.

2017

If it’s a year that begins in “2” there’s likely another telecom merger on the horizon, this time AT&T hoping to buy Time Warner. We’ll spoil this one for you: after a lengthy court battle, the acquisition is approved.

In 2017, policymakers took a run at platforms with twin bills (SESTA and FOSTA) ostensibly designed to stop sex trafficing but debate around these bills became muddled by misinformation. It’s one of the issues that we explored in TechFreedom’s Back to the Future of Policy Summit which covered topics across the internet ecosystem. 

Not to be outdone, we partnered with Mozilla to design and produce the first Cyber(in)security event, bringing together our extensive network of cyber experts and clients for a thought-provoking look at the future of policy. 

We hired our first Hoosier, Nick Calderon. And we celebrated the first Glen Echo Group marriage between #2 hire Katie Barr and former #3 hire Jake DiGregorio. And something must have been in the air because we got awards for: CEO of the year, being a great place to work and a campaign for Reporters Without Borders.

2018

An auditory illusion (is it Yanny or Laurel?) swept the nation and the Glen Echo Group added 6; Amy Schatz, TJ Chase, Anne Keeney, Charlie Vinopal, Emma Christman and Lori Jeppe all joined our team. 

The team hosted the first Wi-Fi Summit, featuring members of Congress, FCC Commissioners and industry leaders talking about the growth of this experimental tech into something that powers the economy. (Also, it’s Wi-Fi 6 now, not 802.11ax, update your address books.)

We opened our Chicago Office and expanded our cybersecurity practice, working with some of the top names in the field under the aegis of the Hewlett Cyber Initiative.

2019

It’s a BOY! And another BOY! The Glen Echo Group aunties and uncles welcomed John “Jack” Joseph DiGregorio and Quin Thomas Chase this year. (Their parents are doing fine, but hardly the point.)

We were honored to work with the Free Speech Center at the University of California, Irvine to throw the inaugural #SpeechMatters conference on all things, you guessed it, free speech. 

To round out our truly #blessed year, we had to throw a party celebrating… ourselves! Named to Washingtonian’s and Washington Business Journal’s best places to work lists, we figured we should dust off the dancing shoes and celebrate with many of you.

2020

….despite everything, there was a lot of good. Maura continued her pursuit of the bionic woman and had her neck rebuilt in titanium, which also gave her the ability to see everything her children are doing at all times. We achieved some extraordinary wins for Wi-Fi in a year where everyone realized how much we rely upon it, we worked with the country’s leading cybersecurity experts, magically (and quickly) produced dozen of virtual events, launched a number of coalitions and even had a few pets and toddlers Zoom-bomb our press conferences.

The COVID-19 pandemic sent our staff home for the foreseeable future on March 12, 2020. We watched from our homes and the streets as people were moved to the streets to protest for greater equality and justice. And we experienced the little joys and grief of life a little differently, just like so many people around the world. 

When the pandemic sent us home, we launched The Good News Echo — a way to connect with each other, with stories of people and tech doing good in the world. It’s truly at the core of the work we have been privileged to do over the past 10 years. Thank you for coming with us on the journey.