Sean McLaughlin
Digital ecologist Sean Taketa McLaughlin serves as executive director of Access Humboldt, where he advocates for public policies that support universal access to open media.
Sean is known for his tendency to live in proximity with spectacular natural environments, an affinity for diverse multi-cultural engagement, fearless innovation and a dry eclectic sense of humor. He is married with Lori Taketa of Hawai'i, Maui and O'ahu.
Educated at Dartmouth College, he taught "Politics of Media" at the University of Hawai'i - Manoa and served on the UH-Manoa Broadcast Communications Authority as vice chair.
Since 1987, he has been a member of the Honolulu Community-Media Council, (now Media Council Hawaii). Sean was the first director of telecommunications for the Honolulu City Council and the first chief executive officer for Akaku: Maui Community Television. During his tenure at Akaku from 1997 to 2005, the organization grew to include five cable TV channels, low power FM radio and online media access serving the islands of Maui, Moloka'i, and Lana'i.
McLaughlin has fellowship experiences as a Weinberg Fellow in Honolulu, a Z Fellow with ZeroDivide in San Francisco, and a Knight Media Policy Fellow at New America Foundation in Washington, DC. He has published articles, provided expert testimony before legislative and regulatory agencies, and participated in international conferences around the world.
In 2011, he was appointed by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to the California Teleconnect Fund Administrative Committee (CTF-AC) to represent community benefit organizations.
In 2016, he was elected Chair of the CTF-AC. CTF is one of the Universal Service programs administered by the CPUC. (More details)
He serves or has served on the board of directors, steering or policy committees for: