Adonis Hoffman, Esq.
ADVISOR | DIRECTOR | LAWYER
in the Nation's Capital
Sage Advice for Today's Leaders
"A Well-Respected Capitol Hill Vet"
-- Radio & Television Business Report, March 2021
WASHINGTON, D.C.
". . .Hoffman is a highly accomplished African American who once served as Chief of Staff of the FCC, and held key positions in the U.S. House of Representatives. In fact, Hoffman’s time in Washington politics dates to the beginning days of the Reagan Administration. In 1981, he was named Legislative Director for Rep. Mervyn Dymally, a California Democrat. After three years in the role, he took a job in the private sector, becoming a senior account executive at PR firm Gray & Company.
In 1986, Hoffman shifted to legal work, becoming General Counsel for Capitol Exchange Corp., before joining Hopkins & Sutter as an associate attorney. In 1991, he’d head back to Capitol Hill, becoming Counsel for the House Committee on Foreign Affairs during an era when the Persian Gulf War was the major foreign conflict for U.S. Armed Forces. In 1998, Hoffman would find his way to the FCC, serving as Deputy Bureau Chief focused on cable for the Media Bureau. After two years, he’d exit, joining the 4 A’s advertising agency association as SVP/Counsel. Then, in 2013, Hoffman returned to the FCC for two years, serving as Chief of Staff and as Senior Legal Advisor to Mignon Clyburn.
Meanwhile, from 2008-2018, he was an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, and from 2015-2020 was on the Nielsen Media External Advisory Council. He launched The Advisory Council in 2019. Today, Hoffman is regularly interviewed across an array of cable news networks as an expert on policy issues for national media."
Law, Policy & Regulation
BUSINESS, LAW & SOCIETY
BUSINESS, LAW & SOCIETY
BUSINESS, LAW & SOCIETY
- Privacy, artificial intelligence, facial recognition, data security and more are issues facing corporations, governments, financial institutions, investors and civil society. Hoffman is among the national legal experts focusing on these areas. (Click image for video)
BIG TECH REGULATION
BUSINESS, LAW & SOCIETY
BUSINESS, LAW & SOCIETY
- As the policy debate rages on how to regulate Big Tech firms, including Facebook, Amazon, Google, Apple and others, Mr. Hoffman has provided cogent analyses to business, political, media and investment leaders on the legal, business and policy issues involved . (Click image for video)
Sage Advice for Today's Leaders
Vision | Clarity | Experience
Professional Background
- Adonis Hoffman, Esq. is a lawyer, business strategist and noted thought leader with over 30 years of high-level legal, government and international experience in media, communications, public policy and corporate affairs. He has worked with CEOs, corporate boards and Fortune corporations, policymakers, foreign leaders, trade associations, institutional investors, embassies, and international organizations on a range of global and domestic issues. Hoffman provides strategic insights to policymakers, the news media, and investors as part of his branded Advisory Counsel series.
- Mr. Hoffman is CEO of The Advisory Counsel, LLC; former chairman of Business in the Public Interest, Inc., and former Adjunct Professor of Communication, Culture & Technology at Georgetown University. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of The Media Institute, former co-chairman of the External Advisory Council of Nielsen Media, founder and chairman of the American Social Impact Foundation, and chairman of the Direct Selling Self Regulatory Council Appellate Board. He provides strategic advisory counsel to organizations and investors on compliance, risk, M&A, and reputation management, as well as regulatory and public policy developments.
- Hoffman served from 2013 - 2015 as Chief of Staff and Senior Legal Advisor at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for FCC Commissioner and Interim Chairman Clyburn, where he worked with FCC Commissioners and senior staff on key communications policy matters, including Net Neutrality; media ownership; broadcast and wireless spectrum; wireless and broadcast auctions; re-transmission agreements; privacy enforcement; consumer protection, TCPA, and mega mergers in the media, broadband and internet sectors, including Comcast - TWC - Charter; AT&T - DirecTV, and over a dozen broadcast and telecom transactions. He served earlier at the FCC from 1998-2000 as Deputy Chief of the Cable Bureau and Policy Advisor to the FCC Chairman, where he worked on the AT&T- Media One merger and the AOL - Time Warner merger, and was appointed chair of the Inter-agency Task Force on Advertising Practices.
- Mr. Hoffman served in senior legal and policy positions in the U.S. House of Representatives (102nd Congress) (97th, 98th Congresses), including committee counsel and subcommittee staff director for the House Foreign Affairs Committee; legislative director for a Member of the House, and staff counsel to the District of Columbia Subcommittee on the Judiciary.
- Hoffman was appointed senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (1994-1997), senior fellow at the World Policy Institute (1995-1997), and Fellow at the Capitol Policy Institute in Washington (1997). His work in constitutional and electoral reform took him to thirty countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, and allowed him to lead several delegations of international election observers.
- From 2000-2010, Hoffman worked as senior vice president and counsel at the American Association of Advertising Agencies (the 4As), responsible for legislative, regulatory and legal matters, and represented the advertising industry before Congress, the FTC, and federal courts. Hoffman helped lead the advertising industry's self-regulatory initiatives, including food marketing, advertising to children, and online consumer privacy initiatives.
- Mr. Hoffman established and chaired the American Business Leadership Institute; consulted with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and served as a member of the National Advertising Review Board (NARB). He worked as Managing Director with Capitol Exchange Corporation; associate attorney at Hopkins & Sutter; and commercial banker at Bank of America.
- Hoffman's commentary on business and public policy has been published in The Hill, The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Fox Business, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Broadcasting & Cable, The Washington Times, Multichannel News, National Journal and Foreign Policy. He has appeared on CNBC, CNN, FOX, MSNBC, PBS, Voice of America, Canadian Broadcasting, and numerous international networks, and has been widely quoted in national news media, including AP, Reuters, Time, and USA Today. Hoffman's Wall Street Journal article on the TCPA was cited in the Petitioner's Brief in Campbell-Ewald v. Gomez in the U.S. Supreme Court, 2015. Hoffman is the author of Doing Good--the New Rules of Corporate Responsibility, Conscience and Character (2010).
- Mr. Hoffman earned an A.B. from Princeton University and a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. He is admitted to practice law before the District of Columbia. Court of Appeals; the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (inactive) ; the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia; the U.S. Bankruptcy Court; the U.S. Court of International Trade, and the United States Supreme Court.
A Seasoned Speaker
- Mr. Hoffman speaks at corporate retreats, board meetings and industry conferences of any size on issues facing today's corporations, investors and business leaders.
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Insightful Media Commentary
- Hoffman comments frequently on television, and writes on policy issues for national media.
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Telecom, Media & Technology
Law, Policy and Regulation
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Communications and Technology
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Comments on $109 billion media merger
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Merger (M&A) Analysis
Expert Insights on Mergers, Deals and Major Market Developments
- Mr. Hoffman is often called on by the news media, industry trade groups, corporate leaders and Wall Street analysts for insight and commentary on major communications deals. Hoffman appears occasionally on CNBC and contributes to Broadcasting & Cable magazine, and other publications.
New Metrics for Media Mergers
- Washington has become the merger capital of the world. With several multibillion-dollar deals in the works, the FCC, FTC and DOJ are today’s proving grounds. Mega media transactions have ushered the obscure rules of mergers out of the shadows and into public view, where success is measured in more than shareholder value. In days gone by, a corporate merger was a marriage between two companies that decided it was good to combine. But like modern-day marriage, mergers too have changed. No longer just corporate unions, mergers have become multi-stakeholder exercises with often-competing interests.In recent years, media mergers have become the platform of choice for nascent competitors, consumer groups, community activists, elected officials and almost anyone with an angle to play or an axe to grind. Many have mastered the fine art of merger mischief, using apocryphal comments in the public record to turn the tide of opinion. Companies seeking FCC approval have been at the mercy of malcontents advancing conditions that would be otherwise laughable but for a pending merger review. But not more. The rules of the game have changed under the Trump Administration. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai and Commissioner Michael O’Rielly have shifted the agency’s merger-review focus to the four corners of the transaction, placing the emphasis on the merits of the deal rather than its conditions. The jury is still out as to the effect these changes will have on M & A activity in 2018 and beyond.
Mergers, Media and Unholy Alliances
- A recent Wall Street Journal article identified a wave of mergers that are testing the limits of antitrust laws. From beer to appliances to airlines and the media, concentration and convergence are taking place. "Go big or go home" is a mantra among merger advisory experts who cite scale as the key advantage in a competitive global market. While bigger is not always better for consumers, growth through acquisition can be a winning strategy for investors and the bottom line. prices, lower quality goods or services. When it comes to transactions involving licenses and authorizations under the Communications Act, Congress has directed the FCC to determine whether proposed mergers would serve the "public interest, convenience and necessity." This broad and somewhat amorphous standard allows the FCC considerable leeway in its review of communications mergers. The public interest standard encompasses such considerations as diversity, localism, innovation, and providing new or additional services to consumers, in addition to the congressional goal of "promoting the widespread dissemination of information from a multiplicity of sources."Through its focus on the public interest, the FCC review is considerably more open, transparent and inclusive than the antitrust merger reviews conducted by the FTC and DOJ. But it is this glasnost element that has become problematic. When a public company seeks to merge, its very soul is laid bare for the world to see. Its profits, plans, policies and practices are open to scrutiny from anyone who can prove the slightest interest in the proposed transaction. But not every inquiry is well intentioned. Nowhere is this more pronounced than in the media and communications sector, where convergence, consolidation and competition are robust.
Corporate Reputation, Responsibility & Trust
From Crisis to Conscience
- Mr. Hoffman helps business leaders, CEOs, corporate boards and directors to effectively engage shareholders, investors, consumer and community groups, customers, stakeholders, media and government, and to build reputations for responsible leadership through strategic alliances, partnerships and advocacy. He has been a go-to expert on corporate branding, crisis and reputation management, providing innovative solutions to companies facing media, political and governance challenges.
- Customers, shareholders, institutional investors, activists, policymakers and the media today are deeply concerned about the behavior, policies and practices of corporations. Our society has developed high, and perhaps unreasonable, expectations of the private sector. We expect companies not only to provide quality products and services, but also to compete globally and be exemplary corporate citizens. We want them to protect the environment, build roads, fight corruption, advance human rights, support the arts, and contribute to local communities at the same time. In short, we want corporations to do well and to do good. While these concerns may be well-intentioned, they present difficult challenges for business leaders and investors in balancing profit over social policy.
Doing Good
- In Doing Good, lawyer, professor and business strategist, Adonis Hoffman, lays out 55 simple rules corporations and business leaders can follow to prove their character and conscience in today's demanding consumer climate.
- Chapter-by-chapter, Doing Good makes the path to corporate responsibility plain and clear. Companies who want to reap the rewards of such a reputation can just follow the rules.
- Doing Good makes a simple, but compelling, case for a new path to corporate responsibility, especially for large publicly traded companies who have unique opportunities and resources to help build a better humanity.
- Seasoned with practical, common-sense, advice from notable business, political and cultural leaders, Doing Good is a must read for anyone who cares about the increasingly important role of corporations in today's society.