FACULTY

William Baker, Ph.D.
George Belch, Ph.D.
Michael Belch, Ph.D.
Richard D. Brooks
Joel Davis, Ph.D.
John M. Eger, J.D.
Heather Honea, Ph.D.
Kathleen A. Krentler, DBA
Barbara Mueller, Ph.D
Lois Olson, Ph.D.
Paula Peter, Ph.D.

John M. Eger is the Lionel Van Deerlin Endowed Professor of Communications and Public Policy at San Diego State University, and Director of SDSU's International Center for Communications. He is also CEO of the World Foundation for Smart Communities, a non-profit educational organization helping local communities transform themselves for a knowledge-based information economy and President of the Worldwide Media Group, an international consulting firm specializing in strategic planning, media and marketing development.

From 1983 to 1986, Mr. Eger was Senior Vice President of the CBS Broadcast Group responsible for CBS Broadcast International, CBS Cable Television Systems, CBS Interconnects (a cable advertising sales unit), EXTRAVISION (the network's teletext service) and development of all other new business enterprises worldwide, including: joint ventures, co-productions, publishing, audio and video cassettes, merchandising and licensing.

During this period, Mr. Eger introduced the concept of commercial television to the People's Republic of China and developed a new marketing strategy involving the barter of advertiser-sponsored programming that was expanded to Eastern and Western Europe and Latin America. He was also responsible for the development of the prize-winning home video documentary series "World War II with Walter Cronkite;" the inauguration of live and tape-delayed in-flight programming on domestic and international aircraft; and satellite delivery of "The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather" to Paris and Tokyo. Earlier, Mr. Eger had been Vice President and Managing Director of CBS Broadcast International, which he established, and Vice-President of Strategic Planning and International Development for the CBS Broadcast Group.

Previously Mr. Eger headed a Washington D.C. public affairs firm, which he founded, specializing in international communications. This legal research and public affairs firm played a major role in the restructuring of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company; was instrumental in the development of laws regarding privacy and security of information systems; and was responsible for developing coalitions to remove the barriers to trade and investment in international communications and information goods and services.

From 1973 to 1976, Mr. Eger was advisor to Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford and Director of the White House Office of Telecommunications Policy, where he served on the Presidential Initiative on Privacy, the Cabinet Committee on Cable Television, and the Ad-Hoc Committee on Regulatory Reform. During this time, Mr. Eger launched the first series of extended bilateral and multilateral discussions on international communications trade matters; re-examined U.S. involvement and participation in international regulatory and policy fora; and initiated the development of an Asian Basin secretariat on telecommunications which later resulted in the formation of a private sector, "Pacific Telecommunications Council," which he helped found in Honolulu in 1977.

Before his White House service, he was legal assistant to the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, responsible for liaison with Congress, the White House and other federal agencies, and served as special advisor to the General Counsel of the FCC on the historical "Specialized Common Carrier Proceedings," which was instrumental in introducing competition in the telecommunications industry.

From 1970 to 1971 Professor Eger was a trial attorney in Chicago. Earlier, he held various management and sales positions with the Bell System. Following his graduation from the Bell System Communications School in Cooperstown, New York, he served as Director of Information Systems and was responsible for automating many parts of Illinois Bell directory operations. He also served as an information systems specialist to the largest national telecommunications users with headquarters in the state of Illinois.

Mr. Eger is a past Chairman of "Opt-in-America," a public policy organization concerned with America's leadership in the information age; Chairman of the Foreign Policy Committee on 1992, the date set for economic unification of Western Europe; trustee of the International Institute of Communications, London; advisor to the Fletcher School of International Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University; and on the editorial board of the international quarterly, Information Society. He also served on the board of the International Advertising Association; Educom, the association for information technology in higher education; the Corporate Affairs Committee of the Japan Society and the Finance Committee of the Institute for East West Security Studies.

Mr. Eger is a frequent lecturer on the subjects of international communications, emerging trends in media and marketing, and more recently, revitalizing communities through the use of telecommunications. He is also a frequent contributor to trade and industry journals and general interest publications such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Washington Journalism Review. He is the author of "Emerging Restrictions on Transborder Data Flows: Privacy protection or Non-Tariff Trade Barriers," Georgetown Journal of Law and Policy in International Business (1978); "The Global Phenomenon of Tele-Informatics," Cornell International Law Journal (Summer, 1981); "Global Television: An Executive Overview," Columbia Journal of World Business (Fall, 1987); and of the seminal study: “Cities of the Future: The Role of Telecommunications and Information Technology.”

Mr. Eger recently served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the San Diego Data Processing Corporation, Chair of Mayor Susan Golding’s City of the Future Advisory Committee, and Chairman of Governor Pete Wilson’s first Commission on Information Technology. He currently serves as President of the San Diego Communications Council, an association of senior executives from every sector of the communications, entertainment and information industries, Trustee of the International Institute of Communications, London, and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute. In addition to receiving the highest award from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications Japan for “Leadership in Telecommunications,” Mr. Eger was also named International Advisor by the Netherlands Government to the Kenniswijk Initiative, an effort to create the first truly broadband interactive communication system in the City of Eindhoven, and as a Fulbright Senior Specialist in telecommunications and urban development.

Mr. Eger holds a Juris Doctor from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago where he was a member of the Honors Program, and was a distinguished military graduate of the Virginia Military Institute. He is married and has four children.

Recent publications include:
The Master of Fine Arts Degree Is Now the New M.B.A (San Diego Business Journal on the Web) article

Capitalism, Community and America’s Future Social Capital (San Diego Business Journal on the Web) article

COLLEGE OF BUSINESS
ADMINISTRATION HOME