Gerald Stephen McGowan
Gerald S. McGowan served as the US Ambassador to
Portugal from 1998-2001. He currently is Of Counsel
to Lukas, Nace, Gutierrez and Sachs (formerly Lukas,
McGowan, Nace & Gutierrez) where he was a
founding principal. The firm at one point represented a
large part of the entire US cellular industry before the
Federal Communications Commission.
Mr McGowan is a telecommunications industry
veteran with over 30 years experience in the private
sector. He has served on the Cellular
Telecommunications Industry Association Board of
Directors, and was instrumental in launching several
successful telecommunications business ventures,
including Dial Call (sold to Nextel for over $500M)
and Integrated NorthCoast (sold to NEC). Mr.
McGowan with his partners built, operated and then
sold a successful cellular company that did business in
Steubenville, Ohio.
From 2003 to 2015, he served on the Board of Portugal
Telecom a publicly traded company with operations in
Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. From 2002 to
2007 he served on the Board of BCGI, Inc, a publicly
traded company that specialized in the prepaid wireless
market.
A former 1st Lieutenant in the US Army and Viet Nam
veteran, he currently serves on the Board of Visitors of
the US Military Academy at West Point. He also serves
on the Board of the Diplomatic Council of Energy
Security, a non partisan group of former US
Ambassadors who address the the diplomatic and
foreign policy constraints and dangers created by the
country’s energy needs and oil dependence. He
previously served on the Board of Directors of the
Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) as
well as on the Board of the Virginia Port Authority.
In addition, McGowan was a law clerk to Michigan
Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas G. Kavanagh and
assistant to the late U.S. Senator Phillip A. Hart from
1964 to 1968 and 1971 to 1974.
Gerry received a B.S from Georgetown University
followed by a Law Degree from Georgetown
University Law Center.University Law Center.