John M. Eger

Director of the Creative Economy Initiative, San Diego State University
Endowed Chair of Communications and Public Policy, Lionel Van Deerlin

John M. Eger, Director of the Creative Economy Initiative at San Diego State University (SDSU) is the Lionel Van Deerlin Endowed Chair of Communications and Public Policy. He teaches in the School of Journalism and Media Studies, and the SDSU Honors Program.

Earlier, he was Legal Assistant to FCC Chairman Dean Burch, former Adviser to Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, and Director of the White House Office of Telecommunications Policy, during which time he helped spearhead the restructuring of America’s telecom Industry. As Senior Vice President of CBS he was responsible for Worldwide Enterprises, and helped open China to commercial television, produced the award winning series WWWII with Walter Cronkite, and launched the concept of in-flight programming with Dan Rather and the Evening News.

He is an author and lecturer on the subjects of creativity and innovation, education and economic development, and formerly served as the 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.”

While at SDSU he has served as Chair of California Governor’s first Commission on Information Technology; Chair of the Governors Committee on Education and Technology; and Chair of San Diego Mayor’s “City of the Future” Commission.