RigNet tasks retired admiral to build government business

Broadband communications provider RigNet has appointed retired Navy Adm. James Arden “Jamie” Barnett to its leadership team with responsibility for building the company's government business.

As senior vice president of government services, Barnett will lead efforts to market and sell RigNet’s portfolio of services in cybersecurity, communications and artificial intelligence to public sector entities. Houston-based RigNet said Monday that Barnett will report directly to CEO Steven Pickett.

More recently, Barnett was a partner at law firm Venable LLP and was chairman of its telecommunications group. Prior to that, he was senior VP for national security policy at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.

Upon retirement from the Navy, the 32-year military veteran became chief of the Federal Communications Commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau and led efforts to develop the national public safety broadband network for first responders known as FirstNet.