Whitehead, Clay Thomas

Biographical Note

• 1938, Nov. 13: Born, Neodesha, Kansas.
• 1956: Entered Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.
• 1958 - 1960 : Bell Telephone Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, intermittently for about ten months between 1958 and 1960 under the MIT cooperative program. Experimental design development of pulse and analog electronic equipment.
• 1960: S. B. in electrical engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.
• 1961: S.M. in electrical engineering, communications, systems engineering, operations research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA.
• 1961 (Summer): Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, CA. Examined the operational potential of advanced undersea detection techniques; mathematical economic study of the impact of alternative inspection rules on the stability of arms control agreements.
• 1962: E.E. in electrical engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA; Honorary Societies: Eta Kappa Nu, Tau Beta Pi, Sigma Xi.
• 1962 (Summer): Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, CA. Participated in a systems analysis study of the NATO air defense system.
• 1963 Feb. - 1963 Nov. : Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, CA. Spacecraft system studies; participation in the recommendation to NASA of a preferred in-space checkout concept for the Apollo spacecraft.
• 1963 Nov. - 1967 Feb. : Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, CA. Part-time research on new techniques for decisions on spacecraft reliability augmentation. Worked on various studies on arms control, space, and air defense.
• 1964 Apr - 1965 Sept. : Volunteered for U.S. Army in Vietnam, but was assigned to Edgewood Arsenal, MD. Army chemical and biological headquarters operations research group. Performed systems analyses of field army chemical alarm systems. Technical monitor of a systems analysis study of strategic biological detection systems and a study of civil defense applications.
• 1966 (Summer): U. S. Bureau of the Budget, Washington, D.C. Co-authored suggested analytic framework for allocating IRS enforcement resources. Developed an improved analytic framework for decisions about Federal support of graduate students.
• 1967: Ph.D. in management decision-making and systems analysis; operations research; economics, R management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA. Thesis: The Uses and Limitations of Systems Analysis in the Department of Defense. Major professional interest: the theory and application of improved decision processes for top management decisions that combine technological change, quantitative analyses, and management judgments.
• 1967 - 1968 : Rand Corporation, worked as an economist and defense analyst.
• 1968: Richard M. Nixon's Presidential campaign. Worked as an expert on budget policies.
• 1968 Nov. - 1969 Jan. : Nixon Transition. Served on the President-elect's task force on budget policies and assisted on other transition matters.
• 1969 Jan. - 1970 Sept. : Special Assistant to President Richard M. Nixon, White House, Washington, D.C. Responsible for the Atomic Energy Commission, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, maritime policy matters. Served as liaison with all science-related regulatory agencies, among them the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Power Commission. Crafted Administration Policy “Open Skies” domestic satellite policy that allowed any qualified private company to launch communications satellites.
• 1970 Sept-1974 Sept.: Director, Office of Telecommunications Policy, White House, Washington, D.C. Responsible for the Administration's policy on broadcasting, cable, and telecommunications regulation as well as the Federal government's own telecommunications activities. Led the development of policies for competition and deregulation in telecommunications to replace the then-dominant, highly regulated, and monopolistic structures of the television and telecommunications industries. Implemented Open Skies Policy. Examined the operational potential of advanced undersea detection techniques; mathematical economic study of the impact of alternative inspection rules on the stability of arms control agreements.
• 1973 May: Married Margaret Mahon.
• 1974 Apr. - 1974 Aug. : Organizer and chair of a team of four other people to meet in secret and to produce a plan for Vice President Gerald R. Ford's first days in office, once it seemed that there was a possibility that President Richard M. Nixon would resign from office. Met with the team at his private residence, Washington, D.C.
• 1974 Aug. - 1974 Sept. : Worked in the Office of the President in the new Administration with the President's senior advisors. Prepared issues, identified staff, and briefed the Chief of Staff prior to his daily meeting with the President.
• 1974 - 1975 : Joint Harvard/MIT Visiting Fellowship, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Institute of Politics, Harvard.
• 1977 - 1983 : Founder and President, Hughes Communications, a subsidiary of Hughes Aircraft Company, El Segundo, Calif. With its Galaxy series of satellites, Hughes Communications expanded the parent company's satellite manufacturing business into the provision of satellite services. The innovation of selling satellite transponders created a new business model for the satellite industry, which subsequently became the model for all satellite services in the U.S. and around the world, with particular relevance for distribution of video program networks.
• 1983 - 1985 : Founder of SES ASTRA (Société Européenne des Satellites). Initially known as Coronet, this entity became the world's first commercial direct-to-home satellite TV broadcast business ending European state-run broadcasting monopolies. Executed the innovative Coronet business plan based on the concept of using high-powered Ku-band satellite services to provide television service to small- and low-cost home satellite dishes. Coronet became Société Européenne des Satellites in 1985.
• 1985 - 2004 : Founder and President, Clay Whitehead Associates, attempting to be an international business development company principally concerned with the telecommunications and television industries. Tried unsuccessfully to found National Exchange (NEX) to provide telecommunications services in the United States using advanced satellite technology with a novel method to route communications traffic among Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs) or among very small transmit-receive satellite earth stations.
• 1988 - 1993 : PanAmSat. Helped lead the successful expansion of the first privately owned international commercial satellite system to the Asia Pacific region. Introduced the Galaxy template of transponder sales to this initiative allowing PanAmSat to expand beyond its single satellite in the Atlantic region and break Intelsat's global monopoly.
• 1993 - 2003 : Sued SES ASTRA (Société Européenne des Satellites) of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg regarding a contractual dispute. Prevailed in 2003. Agreement sealed.
• 2002 - 2008 : Did research for, outlined, and drafted three of eleven chapters of The History of 20th Century Telecommunications: The Development and Regulation of Telecommunications and Broadcasting, a study of decisive moments in the rise of telecommunications technologies and their intersections with monopoly formation and deregulation in the U. S.
• 2005: Inducted into the Society of Satellite Professionals International Hall of Fame for being a seminal figure in the development of the satellite industry.
• 2005 - 2007 : Distinguished Visiting Professor of Communications Policy, George Mason University School of Law, Arlington, VA.
• 2008, July 23: Died of prostate cancer, Washington, D.C.

From the guide to the Clay Thomas Whitehead Papers, 1927-2012, (bulk 1968-2008), (Manuscript Division Library of Congress)