Michael Kevin Powell (born March 23, 1963) is an American attorney and lobbyist who served as the 24th chairman of the Federal Communications Commission from 2001 to 2005.

[7] As the chairman of the FCC, Powell led the charge to open up markets in VoIP, Wi-Fi, and Broadband over Powerline (BPL).

[9] Powell opposed applying telephone-era regulations to new Internet technologies, a move critics charged would deny open access to communications facilities.

He articulated a policy of network neutrality, and in March 2005 fined Madison River Communications for blocking voice over IP applications, the first-ever government action of its kind.

[10] Powell worked so consumers could keep phone numbers when switching wireless carriers and championed the National Do Not Call Registry.

When Powell resigned, Kevin Martin, who served Bush's presidential campaign in Florida, was named the FCC's new Chairman.

A defining moment of his tenure as FCC chairman was the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy, in which Janet Jackson's breast was exposed on live-broadcast television.

This high-profile incident increased public attention toward the FCC's enforcement of indecency rules, which had already stepped up following Bono's use of an expletive on live TV.

Although the legislation was not ultimately enacted, the climate in Washington became so grey that several TV stations across the country declined to air Saving Private Ryan on Veterans Day for fear of FCC fines.

On April 21, 2006, Powell was elected the Rector of the Board of Visitors, making him the first African-American to serve in that post in the College's 313-year history.

[17] In 2012, The Washington Post speculated that Powell was considering a candidacy for Mayor of the District of Columbia in the 2014 election, though he declined to enter the race.

[18] In 2013, Powell was a signatory to an amicus curiae brief submitted to the Supreme Court in support of same-sex marriage during the Hollingsworth v. Perry case.

[19] On March 15, 2011, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA) announced that Powell would take the helm from Kyle McSlarrow beginning April 25.

After being stabilized, he was flown to Washington, D.C., and admitted to Walter Reed Army Medical Center where he spent a year in recovery.

His spine remained fused at its base, forcing him to walk with a slight forward pitch the rest of his life.