Verizon Communications has named Craig Silliman, currently senior vice president of public policy, to executive vice president of public policy and general counsel. Effective Jan. 1, 2015, he will succeed Randal Milch, who has been appointed to a new position as strategic policy adviser to Lowell McAdam, Verizon’s chairman and CEO. Milch will oversee strategic policy initiatives.

In his new role, Silliman will also report to McAdam and lead the company’s public policy, legal, regulatory, government affairs and security groups.

Silliman currently leads global public policy, federal and state legislative and regulatory affairs, strategic alliances, national security, and privacy, and he has served in a number of other senior management roles at Verizon. As senior vice president and general counsel for Verizon’s wireline consumer, business and wholesale groups, Silliman was responsible for all legal and regulatory support for Verizon’s wireline business unit globally, managing a team of more than 260 legal and regulatory experts located in 20 countries.

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