As one of the prime architects of public policy at the Federal Communications Commission in the 1970s, Dr. Pearce helped lay the foundation of a new information era. Beginning in 1970, Dr. Pearce was chief economist and special assistant to FCC Chairman Dean Burch and later to his successor Richard Wiley. In that capacity, he was responsible for economic policy research and design pertaining to all major matters pending before the FCC. During a five year tenure in the Office of the Chairman at the Commission, Pearce oversaw the investigation of AT&T, which eventually led to the breakup of the company in 1984; the early policies that encouraged the convergence of computers and communications; the launching of domestic satellites to provide telecommunications-information-entertainment services to the public; the beginning of public policies encouraging the development of cable TV; investigations into children’s TV; business relationships between the Hollywood move and program production industry and the TV networks; and wireless and spectrum policies that resulted in the introduction of universal wireless services.

Dr. Pearce next became chief economist, Subcommittee on Telecommunications, U.S. House of Representatives, where he was responsible for developing legislation and monitoring the telecommunications-information-entertainment industry via hearings, consultations, and reports.

After leaving the House, Dr. Pearce joined the Office of Telecommunications Policy in the Executive Office of the President, as chief economist and senior policy adviser. He was responsible for coordinating policy research and developments emanating from the many federal departments and agencies that hold industry regulatory authority.

Since leaving the government, Dr. Pearce has provided professional services to telecommunications, wireless, satellite, cable TV, movie and program production companies, and broadcasting corporations, along with software and equipment manufacturers. He has also consulted with a wide variety of government organizations at the international, federal, state, and local levels.

Pearce has assisted clients in the U.S. and overseas with negotiations on privatizations and appropriate regulatory structures (Great Britain, France, South Korea, Australia, Mexico, etc.), antitrust issues and actions, mergers and acquisitions, appraisals and valuations, franchises, and service rates. He has lectured and written on international business and the telecommunications-information-entertainment industry both domestically and globally. He is the author of several books and is on the faculty of the Center for Telecommunications Management at the University of Southern California.

In addition, Dr. Pearce has worked with a number of successful entrepreneurial ventures, including the Adaptive Corporation and its parent, Network Equipment Technologies; BrightLink; Ciena Corporation; CustomerLinx; HTLT Software; Link America; LynkLabs; Pete's Brewing Company;  and SignalSoft, among others.

Senator Larry Pressler, R-S.D., former Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and one of the authors of The Telecommunications Act of 1996, has described Dr. Pearce as "one of the true visionaries in the telecommunications-information industry."

Prior to coming to the U.S. in 1968, Pearce worked as both a newspaper and broadcast journalist, and was foreign editor of Independent Television News in London. He was also Chairman of the London Radio and TV Branch of the National Union of Journalists, and was a Labour Party candidate for a seat on the Greater London Council.

Dr. Pearce holds bachelor and master degrees in economics from The London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London, and a doctorate in business and telecommunications from Indiana University.