John M. Eger

John M. Eger, Van Deerlin Endowed Chair of Communications and Public Policy is also the Inaugural Zahn Professor of Creativity and Innovation, and Director of the Creative Economy Initiative at San Diego State University (SDSU). He teaches in the School of Journalism and Media Studies, and the SDSU Honors Program. He has been at SDSU for over 20 years teaching technology and public policy, creativity and innovation and researching the impact of the creative economy on education and economic development. Earlier he was an Attorney with Lamb Eastman and Keats in Washington D.C. and, Principal Adviser to the President for telecommunications policy, Legal Assistant to the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, and Director of the White House Office of Telecommunications Policy, where he helped spearhead the restructuring of America's telecom Industry. Later he was Senior Vice President of CBS responsible for worldwide enterprises, which opened China to commercial television. He is an author and lecturer on the subjects of creativity and innovation, education and economic development, and formerly served as President of Smart Communities, a research and educational organization dedicated to helping local communities connect to the global economy. Recently he authored the seminal “Guidebook for Smart Communities”, a “how to” for communities struggling to compete in the age of the Internet; “The Creative Community: Linking Art, Culture, Commerce and Community”, a call to action to reinvent our communities for the Creative Age; and "Art Education and the Innovation Economy." He has served as chair of San Diego Mayor’s “City of the Future” Commission, Chair of California Governor’s first Commission on Information Technology, and the Governor’s Committee of Technology and Education.