Derrick Owens joined MUM’s Board of Directors in 2016 and became Vice President in 2017. Derrick regularly helps with MUM’s Mobile Pantry and canned food drives. He has been actively involved with MUM’s Annual Fall Fundraiser, incorporating a silent auction as another form of fundraising to help MUM meet the needs of its clients and the communities it serves.

Derrick is the Senior Vice President of Government Affairs & Industry Relations at WTA – Advocates for Rural Broadband. WTA is a national trade association that represents more than 340 small, rural telecom/broadband providers. He manages WTA’s Washington, DC office and works with Congress, Executive Branch agencies, and the Federal Communications Commission on legislative and regulatory policies affecting rural telecom/broadband companies.  

Derrick previously worked at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) serving in a number of senior-level advisory positions. He also worked for his hometown congressman, (now-former) Rep. Tom Sawyer in Washington, DC, advising on telecommunications and other legislative matters.

Derrick has a master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Allegheny College in Pennsylvania. Derrick also serves on the Board of Directors of his high school, Archbishop Hoban, in Akron, Ohio.  Derrick and his wife, Denise, live in Silver Spring.