MIAMI—Jim Cicconi, who leads external and legislative affairs for telecommunications giant AT&T, will leadoff the Holmes Report’s second annual Global Public Relations Summit with an insider’s look at the intersection of business and politics.

Cicconi, who leads AT&T’s global public policy organization and serves as chair of the AT&T Foundation, served in the White House under two presidents: two years as deputy chief of staff to President George H.W. Bush, and four years as a special assistant to President Ronald Reagan and to White House chief of staff James Baker.

He has also been a partner at prominent Washington law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld.

In a session moderated by Hill+Knowlton Strategies, Cicconi will share insights and lessons learned about the art and science of global messaging and discuss some of the challenges that have thrust his current employer into headlines lately—the telecom giant is one of several companies identified as a participant in the NSA’s domestic surveillance activities.

Cicconi currently serves as a director of El Paso Electric Company, the American Council on Germany, Jobs for America's Graduates, and the US Chamber of Commerce. He is a member of the US Telecom Association executive committee, the University of Texas at Austin Development Board and the LBJ School of Public Affairs advisory council, He is an honorary trustee of The Brookings Institution, and is vice president of the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation.