On August 3, 1999, President Clinton nominated Gregory L. Rohde to serve as the Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Communications and Information. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on November 10, 1999. The Assistant Secretary is responsible for formulating policies supporting the development and growth of telecommunications, information and related industries; furthering the efficient development and use of telecommunications and informational services; providing policy and management for federal use of the electromagnetic spectrum; and providing telecommunications facilities grants to public users.

Mr. Rohde served as a senior aide to U.S. Senator Byron L. Dorgan (D-ND) for more than ten years as the chief policy advisor for all areas of jurisdiction under the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, of which Senator Dorgan is a member, including telecommunications and technology issues. He played a key role in many important legislative initiatives such as the landmark Telecommunications Act of 1996 (which provided for a comprehensive reform of all aspects of the telecommunications and media industries) and the Internet Tax Freedom Act of 1998 (which provided a moratorium on state and local taxation on electronic commerce).

He began his career as a legislative assistant to then-Representative Byran L. Dorgan in 1988, serving as chief policy advisor for health care, social security, and human resource issues on the House Committee on Ways and Means, of which Representative Dorgan was a member. Additional legislative areas of responsibility included education, judiciary, environment, and transportation. Prior to joining then-Representative Byron L. Dorgan, Mr. Rohde was an instructor teaching social justice classes at Mackin Catholic High School in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Rohde also served as a Team Coordinator for the Health Care Financing Administration Section in the Health and Human Services Cluster of the Presidential Transition Team for the Clinton-Gore Administration and as Campaign Manager for the Nicholas Spaeth for Governor Campaign (D-ND) in 1992.

Born in Pierre, South Dakota in 1961, Mr. Rohde's family moved to North Dakota when he was young, settling in the state capitol of Bismarck where he graduated from Century High School in 1980. He was a state champion distance runner, setting state records in the mile and two-mile and received All-American honors in track.

Mr. Rohde attended Colorado University in Boulder, Colorado and North Dakota State University in Fargo, North Dakota, on a track and cross-country scholarship. He received a Bachelor of Science in Education with majors in Philosophy and Sociology from North Dakota State University in 1985 and a Bachelor of Sacred Theology from the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C., in 1988.