Gigabit Cities Live 2015

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Luc Absillis

CTO Wireline accounts

Alcatel-Lucent North America

Luc is CTO Wireline accounts for the Alcatel-Lucent North American sales organization.
Luc’s career includes over 25 years of experience in different telecommunication sub domains such as core routing, wireline access, enterprise networking, IPTV and multimedia. In these domains Luc was active in a multitude of roles spanning from product line management to strategy and technology evangelism. Luc was a driving force behind the Alcatel-Lucent Triple play service delivery architecture. He started his career in fundamental research on protocol analysis and was a part time professor.
Luc holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the “Vrije Universiteit Brussel”, Belgium and has multiple telecom patents.

Andy Berke

Mayor

City of Chattanooga

Andy Berke was elected to serve as Mayor of Chattanooga on March 5, 2013, winning over 70% of the electoral vote. Andy has focused his public service on making streets safer, providing every child with the opportunity for success, promoting economic and community development, and ensuring that government budgets on outcomes and effectiveness. Andy is a past President of the Chattanooga Association for Justice, and was a charter member of the local chapter of the Inns of Court. Prior to his election as Mayor, he worked as a board member of the Siskin Children’s Institute, the local public television station, WTCI, the Chattanooga Nature Center, and the Tennessee Holocaust Commission.

Robert Howald

VP of Network Architecture

Comcast

Dr. Howald has over 25 years of technology and executive experience in commercial and military communications systems. He is Vice President of Network Architecture at Comcast, focused on the evolution of cable systems and services, future network architectures, and emerging broadband technologies. He held a similar role at ARRIS and the former Motorola Mobility. Prior to this, Dr. Howald was the Vice President of Engineering at Xytrans, specializing in millimeter wave products for cellular backhaul, homeland security, and people screening. He was also the Director of Systems Engineering with General Instrument and Motorola’s prior Broadband Communications Systems division.

Michael Mattmiller

Chief Technology Officer and Director of the Department of Information Technology

City of Seattle

Michael Mattmiller is the Chief Technology Officer and Director of the Department of Information Technology for the City of Seattle. In this role, Michael is responsible for connecting the City to the public, providing the City’s workforce with productivity enhancing technology solutions, and ensuring the public can equitably participate in the City’s high-tech economy. Since joining the City in 2014, Michael has focused on delivering solutions that optimize the City’s use of technology resources, build trust in how the City uses the public’s information, and increased the availability of gigabit broadband service to homes and businesses across Seattle. Prior to his work at the City, Michael was a senior strategist at Microsoft focused on data privacy and protection practices across the company’s enterprise cloud solutions and a consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Gail Roper

Chief Information Officer

City of Raleigh

Gail Roper, the first Chief Information and Community Relations Officer for Raleigh—a city that Forbes Magazine ranked as “America’s Most Wired City” in 2010, has over 28 years of experience in the technology industry in the public and private sectors. Ms. Roper strategically aligns technology solutions for Raleigh, one of the fastest-growing cities in the nation. Ms. Roper focuses on the innovative application of technology to enhance business objectives and service delivery for Raleigh communities. Prior to joining the City of Raleigh, Ms. Roper served as CIO for the City of Austin, Texas and Kansas City, Missouri.

Samir Saini

Commissioner and CIO

City of Atlanta

Samir began his career with the General Electric Company (GE) graduating from its highly regarded Information Management Program (IMLP). After IMLP, he assumed numerous leadership roles at GE headquarters in Fairfield, CT and its Energy division based in Atlanta,
GA. While at GE Energy, Samir took his first divisional CIO role at age 25 supporting a $250M temporary power business called GE Energy Rentals. Following this role, he was positioned to build an internal IT shared services organization to provide centralized Oracle ERP implementation services to GE Energy Services, the largest business unit under GE
Energy. While at GE, he continued his leadership development efforts graduating from numerous programs delivered thru GE’s highly recognized Crotonville training center. Following his 9-year career with GE, Samir moved to Las Vegas, NV where he worked for MGM Resorts International (MGM) as Vice President for Corporate Systems. In this role, Samir was responsible for the successful implementation of the largest back-office
technology standardization initiative in the gaming sector across 17 casino resorts. Following this role, Samir was seeking a position where he could leverage technology to deliver transformational social change at a local level. He moved back to Atlanta and accepted a position as the SVP, CIO for the Atlanta Housing Authority (AHA), the first housing authority in USA with a nationally recognized model to de-concentrate poverty for low-income families by providing housing in market rate, mixed income communities established thru private-sector partnerships. While at AHA, Samir lead a Transformation initiative that significantly reduced the agencies operating costs, improved regulatory reporting, and improved overall service delivery and business productivity. Continuing his firm commitment to service the public a local level, Samir recently accepted
the position of Commissioner and CIO for the City of Atlanta. He currently lives in midtown.

Eric Small

Vice President, AT&T GigaPower

AT&T

In Eric’s current role as the vice president of AT&T’s U-verse with AT&T GigaPower, he is responsible for AT&T’s fiber-to-the-premises deployments. U-verse with AT&T GigaPower offers Ultra-fast Internet speeds up to 1 gigabit per second and award-winning TV and phone service to hundreds of thousands of locations in parts of the Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Kansas City, Raleigh-Durham and Winston-Salem markets. AT&T has announced plans to expand service in parts of 11 additional markets.

Prior to his current role, Eric was vice president of AT&T Corporate Strategy and held various other roles including president of BellSouth.net. Eric started his career with Texas Instruments as an integrated circuit design engineer and spent more than a decade as a consultant, the last four years in London. He received his BS in electrical engineering with honors from Notre Dame and an MBA from Wharton.

Speakers

Raul Alcaraz

Founder and CEO

Race Communications

Raul Alcaraz is a founder and CEO of Race Communications, and a strong believer in public-private partnership efforts to use the high-speed internet to help lift low-income families and economically depressed communities.

Launched in 1995, Race is now a leading provider of fiber internet service throughout several regions in California, including a growing number of rural and low-income communities that broadband carriers have long ignored. Working in partnership with the California Public Utilities Commission and a number of non-profit community advocacy groups, Alcaraz and Race focus much of its efforts towards building out fiber networks offering affordable gigabit internet service ($60/month).

Race will soon complete delivery of gigabit fiber to every home and business in Boron, CA, an economically depressed city with 2,400 inhabitants located in the Mojave Desert. Over the coming years, Race will build fiber networks in dozens of other rural areas in California, ultimately serving tens of thousands.

Emily A. Almond

Director, IT

Georgia Public Library Service

Emily Almond started her career at CNN, with every intention of going into news full-time. Her first job, however, was working at the overnight reference desk, and she was hooked. She has been in libraries of different shapes and sizes ever since. Her work on a digitization project while at CNN led her to work at the Emory University Woodruff Library, focusing on open source and technology projects such as electronic reserves, ILS administration and the management of the InfoCommons learning center. From there, she became the archive manager for the Atlanta Journal Constitution and later, a project manager for ajc.com. She started at the Georgia Public Library Service as a Software Development Project Manager and is currently the Director of IT.

Mike Alt

Vice President Network Design

ExteNet Systems

Mike has over 20 years of experience in Wireless Communications. He is a proven leader and has led successful teams of RF Engineers at Sprint and currently at ExteNet Systems. He has extensive experience in designing, building, operating and enhancing wireless telecommunications networks. At ExteNet, Mr. Alt is responsible for all design, equipment provisioning and cost estimation of indoor and outdoor distributed networks in the US and Canada. He has personally led the effort to design thousands of outdoor nodes and indoor distributed networks in several marquee venues. Mr. Alt has a BS in EET from Purdue University and an MS in Information and Communication Sciences from Ball State University.

Ony Anglade

Sr. Access Architect

Cox Communications

Ony brings 20 years of experience in a diverse set of communications technologies ranging from paging and DSL to mobile wireless, DOCSIS and WiFi. In his current role, he is responsible for setting the strategic roadmap for the company's access network, working closely on next-generation DOCSIS and PON systems. Previously at Cox, he had engineering responsibilities for all data and voice CPEs, including integration of products and services delivered through these devices, such as home security and an overall home network strategy. Ony has also been a leader in system and device testing and test automation, developing and maintaining test systems for antenna range testing as well as engineering verification and manufacturing. He holds a BS in electrical engineering from the University of Puerto Rico.

Matthew Apps

Manager – Internet Product Management and Development

TDS Telecom

Matt Apps has worked for TDS, a telecommunications provider in the US, for the last 15 years, managing the consumer broadband team for the last nine. He is also responsible for consumer product development at TDS and is currently leading the company’s 1Gig initiative. Prior to product management, Matt worked in e-commerce and Internet marketing, bringing IT and operational skills to his current role. Matt is the current co-chair of the Broadband Multimedia Marketing Association (BMMA), which is an organization formed to enhance the business prospects of vendors and service providers in the telco broadband services industry in the US and Canada.

Karen Archer Perry

Principal Consultant

Clarion Collaborative

Karen Archer Perry is the principal consultant for Clarion Collaborative. She is a recognized expert in the digital information space and a leading innovator for programs that expand information access to diverse and underserved populations. With over ten years of experience in programmatic and policy work aimed at bridging the digital divide, Karen has worked with schools, libraries, government agencies and technology vendors to ensure that internet-enabled services are available to all. As a Senior Program Officer at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global Libraries Program, Karen managed broadband, research, and policy grants that have impacted thousands of libraries across the county. Many continue to support library leaders and inform the evolution of public libraries. She developed multi-million-dollar grant programs with the Pew Internet & American Life Project and the Aspen Institute. The Pew Library Research project provides community leaders with national data on consumer expectations for libraries; the Aspen program will broadly engage library and community leaders to develop a new value proposition for public libraries in the digital age.

Craige Baird

Technology Services Director,

Ponca City, Oklahoma

Craige Baird is the Director of Technology Services for the City of Ponca City, Oklahoma (www.poncacityok.gov). He has worked in this capacity for the last eightteen years. Craige has over 30 years of IT experience ranging from private business to public sectors. Craige is also the President of OGITA (www.ogita.org), Oklahoma Government Information Technology Association. OGITA's member base is comprised of State, County, and Municipal IT directors and support personnel from around Oklahoma.

During his tenure with the City, Craige has optimized the citizen/business/city government communication through use of various technologies. He has improved the City’s infrastructure by partnering with Ponca City Energy and overseeing installation of over 375 miles of fiber between city offices, schools, and major network operating centers (NOC) around town, becoming a broadband provider to major industries as well as the smaller businesses, hospital, doctors, casinos, and car dealerships; creating a citywide public/private Wi-Fi mesh; creating a City Cable Channel on local cable and on the web; and installing a website for government-citizen collaboration. City departments have improved their delivery of City services by utilizing these technologies thus becoming more efficient. Recently he led projects to make all servers and desktops virtualized as well as created the city’s own, fully municipal owned, offsite disaster recovery site that fully duplicates Ponca City’s main server room’s servers, desktops, phones, etc. This disaster site is owned by the city, fed by city fiber, and can be brought online with in minutes when the need arises. He was on the team to install wireless meter reading with the City’s electric and water departments. He led the team that installed an ABB Tropos based wireless mesh network. This Wi-Fi network covers over 60 square miles using 500 ABB Tropos radios. It is used by Police, Fire, and other City departments. The network also provides free wireless internet to all of its citizens at speeds from 4 to 15 MBs. Currently there are over 17,000 daily unique users with over 45 GB of Internet data an hour being used. That is over 1,080 GB or 1.1 TB a day. That is over 32 terabytes a month

Isaiah Blackburn

Chief Stategist, Smart & Connected Cities

Cisco

Isaiah Blackburn is a Strategist for Cisco Smart and Connected Communities, and works closely with Kansas City leaders exploring new opportunities to build out a city network, enhance citizen engagement, and develop a “living lab” in the city’s innovation district under Cisco’s Smart+Connected Communities program and the Internet of Everything.

Erin Bruder

Medisphere Product Manager

Comlink

Erin Bruder has over 15 years of experience in administration, finance and information technology for hospitals and physician practices. Erin is a Lean Sigma Green belt and a Certified Professional of Healthcare Information and Management Systems (CPHIMS). She completed her bachelor’s degree in Health Administration from Eastern Michigan University in 1998. Erin is now the Medisphere Product Manager for COMLINK bringing her expertise to the Medisphere team offering HIPAA compliant products and services in addition to funding education to the healthcare community.

Mark Brule

Chief Application Architect

Allied Telesis

As the Chief Application Architect for Allied Telesis, Inc., Mr. Brule is responsible for the design and definition of software products in the safety, security, and data exchange spaces. Mr. Brule brings 30 years of experience developing software products across a variety of different domains. For the past 10 years he has led the development of products in the area of public safety data exchanges. With an emphasis on Service Oriented Architectures and implementing the canonical exchange pattern, he has been instrumental in the deployment of NIEM-based solutions for law enforcement and first responder agencies. With Allied Telesis he is now taking the lessons learned from public safety incident response to the private sector, developing products that integrate IoT-based sensors into a spatial situational awareness framework.

Prior to Allied Telesis, Mr. Brule co-founded a software company that managed the data conversion of hand-drafted drawings to GIS databases, and integrated handheld computing applications for field-based data collection and verification. Mr. Brule has his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Syracuse University in Computer Science and Mathematics.

Bill Brungardt

Executive Vice President

BHC Rhodes

Bill Brungardt is a professional engineer and the director of our utilities services. His experience includes permitting, design and construction management for telecommunications and civil engineering projects. Bill also manages fiber optic cable projects involving land and marine cable installations, overseeing engineering, right of way and environmental permitting. Bill was one of the three company founders and continues in the administrative leadership of the firm as well as business development and project execution.

David Callisch

Vice President Corporate Marketing

Ruckus Wireless

With 20 years of experience in technology marketing, David has focused his efforts on the computer networking and telecom industries. He has extensive experience helping early-stage (Series A) networking startups identify market opportunities, establish defensible differentiation, and create a unique brand. Prior to joining Ruckus 10 years ago, he was worked at Aruba Networks, helping to launch the company and build the wireless LAN switching market segment. Previously, he served as Director of Communications at Allegro Networks, a failed supplier of carrier routing equipment, and held marketing positions at Alteon WebSystems, StrataCom, SynOptics/Bay Networks, and BT North America.

Gary Cavin

CIO

City of Columbus

Director Cavin administers over 200 critical business applications housed in two state-of-the-art datacenters, as well as the infrastructure used to deliver these applications including LAN/WAN/WIFI network services, server and storage banks, and telephony. He created, implemented and continually manages the city's disaster recovery site. In addition, he is responsible for the creation and implementation of the citywide broadband connectivity plan, increasing optimized data integrity and safety, and all citywide technology projects resulting in millions in cost savings, making Columbus one of the most connected cities in the USA.

As CIO, Director Cavin is charged with spearheading the City's technology initiatives and delivering IT services to support the various city functions. Director Cavin has achieved the majority of innovations set forth in city department objectives, including the MyColumbus mobile application, the layered Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and the Columbus Broadband Strategic Plan while leading 160 multi-tier professionals to success. He continues to aid innovation by scouting for useful technologies and by applying technology to improve existing processes.

Terry Cox

President & CEO

Business Innovation & Growth (BIG)

BIG is a non-profit membership organization, founded in 2006 by Terry Cox, comprised of like minded high growth entrepreneurial companies in this region who share similar challenges in growing their businesses. We provide education, content, and best practices for a growth oriented company as well as access to resources and capital. The value of BIG is the peer to peer exchange that develops from being in the group.
BIG is a co-founder of Charlotte Hearts Gigabit, a community focused on making Charlotte the crown jewel of Gigabit cities. BIG is also a co-creator of the first ever Charlotte Entrepreneur Growth Report.
Terry Cox serves on the Advisory Board of the College of Computing and Informatics at UNC Charlotte.

Aaron Deacon

Managing Director

KC Digital Drive

Aaron Deacon is the founder and managing director for KC Digital Drive, a nonprofit startup that builds technology solutions for a better Kansas City. Working closely with the Kansas City mayors’ offices, KC Digital Drive was designed to drive innovation and collaboration in Kansas City and capitalize on next generation infrastructure. The organization covers a broad range of issues including education, health care, the arts, entrepreneurship, sustainability and digital inclusion.

Aaron has been an instrumental leader in helping Kansas City prepare to be the first market for Google Fiber. He helped create the Building the Gigabit City community brainstorming session, led the Give Us a Gig initiative for neighborhood education, engagement and advocacy, and organized the Gigabit City Summit to explore city infrastructure issues around next generation networks and help cities develop community playbooks to take advantage of ultra high-speed broadband.

He is the founder and principal of the research and strategic planning agency Curiolab. He serves as chairman of the Social Media Club of Kansas City. He has a masters in social science from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Dallas.

Matthew L. Dosch

Executive Vice President – Customer Operations and External Affairs

Comporium

Dosch’s responsibilities include the company’s residential services, business services, customer contact center and external affairs, for all of Comporium’s areas of operation, which incorporates York and Lancaster counties and the Midlands region of South Carolina and Transylvania County in North Carolina. Dosch formerly served as senior vice president of external affairs, which includes state and federal regulatory and legislative affairs, industry relations, provisioning of wholesale carrier services, carrier access billing, inter-company settlements, and company “cost” development and tariff administration.

Prior to joining Rock Hill in August 1994, Dosch spent four years as the manager of regulatory and legislative affairs for OPASTCO – the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecommunications Companies – where he represented the views of small and rural local exchange carriers before the Federal Communications Commission, Congress, and other Federal agencies. Before that, he worked for the Telecom Publishing Group of Capitol Publications, a business newsletter publisher.

Dosch graduated from Duke University with a double major in Public Policy Studies and English.

David Daigle

Senior Vice President

Wilcon

Mr. Daigle has over 25 years of leadership experience in the telecommunications industry. Prior to his current role, Mr. Daigle was Chief Executive Officer and founder of Freedom Telecommunications, Inc., a dark fiber CLEC which was acquired by Wilcon in 2013. In that role Mr. Daigle led the company which was focused on and became one of the largest independent dark fiber optic deployment companies operating in California. Mr. Daigle spearheaded municipal, utility, and traditional infrastructure access agreements for the nearly 3000 mile network now operated by Wilcon. Prior to forming FTI, he ran Broadband Asset Strategies, a boutique consulting firm focused on strategic network developments for American utilities and CLEC’s for last-mile solutions. As Director of Fiber Acquisition at Cogent Communications, his team acquired Cogent’s metro fiber footprint nationally in 22 markets. In addition, he has held various positions at Motorola, Sprint, and PathNet Telecom. Daigle graduated from the Pennsylvania State University in 1986 and lives in Los Angeles, CA with his wife and three children.

Amir Elbaz

CEO

iPhotonix

Amir has extensive experience in managing technology companies through their critical growth stages and utilizes his background to bring innovative ideas and products into the companies he manages. Amir has been advising companies on business strategy, restructuring and business development since 2005. During his career he held CFO, marketing and business development positions. Prior to turning to managerial roles Amir had several positions with investment funds in the US and Europe, focusing on high-tech investments. Amir holds a BA and MBA in Finance and Investments. In spite of his many duties, Amir likes to run and exercise, travel with his family to exotic places and initiate bridges between business people around the world.

Jaime Fink

Co-Founder and CPO

Mimosa

After building a career helping technology companies bring new and innovative products to market, including serving as CTO of 2Wire/Pace, he reunited with Brian Hinman to help make next generation Internet access a reality.

Jeff Finkelstein

Executive Director, Network Architecture

Cox Communications

Jeff Finkelstein is the Executive Director of Network Architecture at Cox Communications in Atlanta, Georgia. He has been part of the engineering and architecture groups at Cox since 2002, and was part of the team responsible for the deployment of DOCSIS technologies, from DOCSIS 1.1 to DOCSIS 3.0. Jeff has made significant contributions to the access network design and deployments at Cox, and has the new role of being responsible for future technology planning of backbone, metro, edge, access, and home networks. He is now part of the CableLabs DOCSIS 3.1 PHY and MAC teams, in addition to being part of the IEEE EPOC specification effort.

Alan Fitzpatrick

Co-Founder

Charlotte Hearts Gigabit

Alan Fitzpatrick is the COO of DC74, a data center company headquartered in Charlotte, NC, and host of a regional Internet Peering Exchange. Alan co-founded a community group supporting residential Gigabit Internet in Charlotte: CharlotteHeartsGigabit.com.

Charlotte Hearts Gigabit is a grassroots, volunteer organization of techies and entrepreneurs who believe a Gigabit Internet infrastructure will be a boon for Charlotte. We are passionate about the impact Gigabit can mean to a city for entrepreneurship, attracting talent, economic development, community collaboration, improved services, and reduced prices.

Alan will discuss why this group formed in Charlotte, how they operate and what they do, successes and mistakes along the way, and how any community can foster a similar grassroots effort. Alan co-founded two tech startups, and teaches as an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte. Being part of the tech entrepreneur ecosystem in Charlotte helped the Charlotte Hearts Gigabit group gain immediate traction.

Gerry Ford

Consultant

IBB Consulting

Gerry Ford is an experienced strategic and analytical leader with an extensive track record of successfully guiding business-impacting initiatives. His key areas of focus include project management, strategic planning and execution, budget and financial recovery, and operational leadership. Ford’s experience includes more than 14 years leading MSO organizations and initiatives, including at Cox Communications and Cablevision. This work focused on driving digital and VOIP launches, call center re-engineering efforts, and financial and operational back office optimization programs. At IBB, Ford provides direction and leadership across technical and operational-focused activities for operators globally.

Andy Germano

Vice President Americas

Small Cell Forum

Andy Germano is the Vice President of Small Cell Forum. He Chairs their Services Working Group and manages liaisons with 3GPP and OMA. Andy’s experience includes silicon, software, service provider, CPE, network management and infrastructure. Andy held senior positions in Marketing, Business Development and Product Management with successful start-up companies: AuthenTec, Tantivy, WiDeFi, INSIDE Secure and BEC. He also directed product management for: QUALCOMM, Ericsson and Northern Telecom. Andy started in Verizon’s Engineering Associate Development Program. He holds an MBA from Duke, a BSEE from Penn State and a BA from Saint Vincent. Andy is a Senior Member of IEEE.

Heather Burnett Gold

President

Fiber-to-the-Home Council North America

Heather Burnett Gold is the President of Fiber-to-the-Home Council North America, a non-profit organization established to help its members plan, market, implement and manage fiber to the home solutions. Council membership includes companies and organizations that deliver video, Internet and/or voice services over high-bandwidth, next-generation, direct fiber optic connections - as well as those involved in planning and building FTTH networks. The Council was created ten years ago to share knowledge and build industry consensus on key issues surrounding fiber to the home. See More

Prior to joining the Council, Gold served as Senior Vice President of External Affairs for XO Communications, a $1.5 billion telecommunications company, where she was responsible for the creation and execution of a comprehensive public policy strategy and regularly interacted with Congress, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the White House and state lawmakers and regulators. Gold was also responsible for the development and implementation of the company’s Cost of Service strategy, including vendor selection and management for an approximately $600M annual budget.

Gold has more than 27 years of experience in the industry, including five years as President for the Association for Local Telecommunications Services (ALTS) during the period surrounding the passage and implementation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996. She has also served as a founding principal of The KDW Group, a telecom consulting firm, and as Vice President of Industry Affairs for Intermedia Communications. She was honored by the Washington Business Journal as one of its 2010 Women Who Mean Business. Gold received her BA (magna cum laude) and MA degrees in Economics from Tufts University. She received her MBA in Finance and Marketing from Washington University in St. Louis. Gold also completed the General Management Program of the Harvard Business School.

Michael Grass

Executive Editor

Route Fifty

Michael Grass is Executive Editor of Route Fifty, a division of Atlantic Media's Government Executive Media Group, and covers state, county and municipal government tech and innovation across the United States. He's the founding co-editor of DCist.com, served as a Copy Editor at Roll Call newspaper on Capitol Hill, Local Editor and Web Editor at The Washington Post's Express newspaper, Deputy Managing Editor at The New York Observer's Politicker.com, Deputy Managing Editor at Washington City Paper, and Washington, D.C., Editor for The Huffington Post. He's a graduate of the University of Michigan and is based in Washington, D.C.

Nate Hill

Deputy Director

Chattanooga Public Library

Nate Hill is Deputy Director of the Chattanooga Public Library, where he leads The 4th Floor project. The 4th Floor is a 12,000 square foot library loft space featuring a public access makerspace, civic laboratory, and gigabit laboratory. In addition to his work at the library, Nate serves on the board of Chattanooga’s Enterprise Center as well as the nonprofit Causeway. Nate has worked in, with, and for public libraries across the country from New York to California, and he was named a "Mover and Shaker" by Library Journal in 2012. Nate has an undergraduate degree in art from Skidmore College, and a masters degree in Library and Information Science from Pratt Institute. He spends his free time traveling, hiking, or playing blocks, cars, and trains with his awesome wife, son, and daughter.

Brian Kiser

Executive Director of the Commonwealth’s Office of Broadband Outreach and Development.

State of Kentucky

Brian E. Kiser serves as Executive Director of the Commonwealth’s Office of Broadband Outreach and Development.

Brian is the former Executive Director for the Office of Enterprise Technology within the Commonwealth Office of Technology and has also served as a Director for the Cabinet for Health and Family Services as well as worked 12 years with the Legislative Research Commission. He has served as a Board member of the eHealth Board, Tele-Health Board, Distance Learning Team with the Council on Post Secondary Education, Bluegrass Community and Technical College Board Member and former member of Kentucky’s Geographic Information Advisory Council.

Joe Kochan

Co-Founder

US Ignite

Joseph (Joe) Kochan joins US Ignite as management consultant from Widelity, Inc. specializing in business strategy, business plan development and modeling, project management, network deployment and operations, and federal grant compliance. Prior to joining Widelity, Mr. Kochan worked as part of the Department of Commerce’s BTOP grant program. Prior to that role, he was a founder and Vice President–Operations of DigitalBridge Communications (DBC), a Virginia-based startup backed by over $40M in venture funding dedicated to bringing broadband services to small, underserved markets nationwide using broadband wireless technology. At DBC, Mr. Kochan managed the design and deployment of 4G wireless networks covering over 600,000 people in 6 states, as well as the acquisition of the company’s first 20,000 customers. Previously, he was with Verizon Avenue, the Verizon subsidiary focused on providing bundled communications services to concentrated communities nationwide. At Verizon he had responsibility for strategic planning and strategic project management, specifically focusing on the military housing market and the implementation of the first Verizon FiOS networks at military bases across the country. Mr. Kochan received a Bachelor of Science in Engineering degree from Princeton University and lives in Washington, DC, where he serves as a volunteer and also is on the board of directors of Miriam’s Kitchen, a not-for-profit service organization serving the homeless population of the city. - See more at: https://us-ignite.org/about/staff/#sthash.AJMRv5xQ.dpuf

Rob Koester

Senior Director of Product Management

Consolidated Communications, Inc. (CCI)

Rob Koester is the Senior Director of Product Management at Consolidated Communications, Inc. (CCI) (Nasdaq: CNSL). He has nearly 25 years of experience in the information technology, product management and the telecommunications industry. Rob has served in a variety of roles at CCI with increasing responsibilities and currently manages a product portfolio that spans 11 states and provides more than a half million customer connections.

He is a graduate of Eastern Illinois University. Rob is active in the community currently serving as a Vice-Chairman on Board of Directors of Leadership Montgomery County, as VP of Community Development / Government Relations and Executive Board Member of the Conroe/Lake Conroe Chamber of Commerce and as on the board of the Montgomery County United Way. He has also provided leadership as a past board member with the Woodlands Village of College Park.

Rob and his wife, name, reside in The Woodlands, TX with their three children.

Rodney Lanham

Vice President, Engineering Operations

Suddenlink Communications

Mr. Rodney Lanham is the Corporate Vice President of Engineering Operations at Suddenlink Communications with responsibilities of 1,400,000 customers in 18 states and 210 Headends. He is also responsible for a state of the art nationwide backbone that serves HD and SD channels from two master Headends, delivers VOD content and control from two locations and has five connected peering locations across the country for data ingress/egress. Before Suddenlink, he worked as Divisional Vice President of Technical Operations for Charter Communications responsible for the Great Lakes Division.
Rodney has 30+ years of professional experience starting in the warehouse repairing converters to where he is today. The journey included the following positions; Installer, Construction, Technician, Headend Technician, Chief Technician, Area Plant Manager, Regional Engineer, Regional Vice President of Technical Operations, Divisional Vice President of Technical Operations, to his current position. He is a longtime member of the Society of Cable Telecommunication Engineers.

Antonin Lapiche

Technology Analyst

Orange Silicon Valley

Antonin Lapiche is a technology analyst at Orange Silicon Valley (a subsidiary of Orange, formerly France Telecom) where his mission is to find innovative startups and educate Orange executives about nascent technologies. His main focus is the Orange GigaStudio initiative, a workspace in downtown San Francisco where startups and developers can experience with a gigabit connection to create the applications of tomorrow. Prior to that, Antonin was working for the French conglomerate Bouygues where he was a market analyst and business developer for North-America. He holds a MS in IT from EFREI Paris and a MS in Management from Audencia Business School.

Brad Lewis

Head of International Video Business Development

Orange Business Services

Brad Lewis is Head of International Video Business Development at Orange Business Services, the France Telecom-Orange branch dedicated to B2B services. In this role, he is responsible for the development and growth of video services outside of France. With more than 14 years' experience in the international telecommunications sector, Brad previously held business leadership roles with Orange Business Services across multiple solutions including voice, unified communications and contact center. Currently, Brad is a board member of the Open Visual Communications Consortium (OVCC).

Pat Lien

Director, National Accounts

Black & Veatch

Pat Lien is a results-driven telecommunications executive with proven success in sales, marketing, business development, operations, and P&L management. In his current position, Pat spearheads the Sales and Strategy for Public Networks for Black & Veatch. Throughout his career, he has had responsibility for every element of network performance – from service delivery to financial success. As a former owner of a Metro area network service provider, and General Manager of two rural wireless middle-mile operators, he brings a deep understanding of the issues faced in both urban and rural deployments. Prior to Black & Veatch, Pat held executive positions with GSG, R.W. Beck, CAVU, and Arcadis. Mr. Lien holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of West Florida, and a Bachelor of Science in Political Science from the U.S. Naval Academy. He is a Retired Navy Commander, and TopGun Graduate.

Tino Mantella

Executive Director

Technology Association of Georgia (TAG)

Tino Mantella is President and CEO of the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG). The Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) has emerged as a world-class membership organization and an engine for economic development for the state of Georgia. TAG's mission is to educate, promote, influence and unite Georgia's technology community to foster an innovative and connected marketplace that stimulates and enhances Georgia's tech-based economy.

Membership in TAG puts you in good company: a who's who of tech leaders and pioneers. With over 26,000 members representing over 2,000 tech and tech-enabled companies, TAG is a leader in the technology industry, connecting you to thought leaders, executives of FORTUNE 500 companies, investors, government and civic leaders, service providers and entrepreneurs. TAG membership also provides you with instant access to our specialized groups that focus on a board cross section of industries and topics. Our 34 societies encompass more than a dozen disciplines, including international business, mobility, entertainment technology, project management and even offshore development solutions.

Aimee Meacham

Director of Broadband Program Services

NTIA, US Dept. of Commerce

Aimee Meacham is the Director of Broadband Program Services for NTIA. At NTIA, she has been responsible for policy and compliance for approximately $4 billion in Recovery Act broadband grants programs. Before joining NTIA, she worked on the Obama for America campaign. In addition, she has more than a decade of legal experience in corporate transactions and telecommunications. She began her career as an intern in the FCC’s International Bureau and Commissioner Furchtgott-Roth’s Office.

Brian Mefford

Chairman and CEO

Connected Nation Exchange

Brian R. Mefford is founder and CEO of Connected Nation Exchange (CNX, Inc.), a company dedicated to aggregating, mapping and brokering the nation’s digital assets in support of broadband expansion through public-private partnerships. Previously, Brian served as the founder, Chairman and CEO of Connected Nation, a non-profit known globally for its ability to close the digital divide. In 2008, the Wall Street Journal included his company’s efforts in its coverage of the top 7 creative economic development initiatives globally. He has been profiled in various technology trade publications as well as the Economist and as part of C-SPAN’s Communicators series.

Brian worked closely with the telecom sector and the U.S. Congress as it unanimously passed the State Broadband Initiative and subsequently consulted with the FCC and NTIA to implement various parts of the National Broadband Plan as Connected Nation became the single largest NGO working with states to spur broadband expansion. He has worked extensively with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to lead community technology expansion through public-private partnerships.

Globally, Brian serves on the Malaysia International Advisory Panel, where he advises the Prime Minister on technology and wealth creation issues. He serves on the New York Academy of Science’s Global Science and Innovation Council in addition to serving as the U.S. advisor to IRMA India, an NGO dedicated to the empowerment of women in rural India. Domestically, Brian serves on numerous boards with a focus on economic development, education, science and history. Brian graduated with a B.S. degree in Economics from Centre College in Kentucky and received an International MBA from Thunderbird in Glendale, Arizona.

Christopher Mitchell

Director, Community Broadband Networks Initiative

Institute for Local Self-Reliance

Christopher Mitchell’s work focuses on telecommunications – helping communities ensure the networks upon which they depend are accountable to the community. He is a leading national expert on community broadband networks and speaks at conferences across the US on the subject, occasionally to directly debate opponents of public ownership. He was honored as one of the 2012 Top 25 in Public Sector Technology by Government Technology, which honors the top “Doers, Drivers, and Dreamers” in the nation each year. That same year, the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors named ILSR the Broadband Organization of the Year. In 2011, that organization also honored Mitchell for his policy work.

Cyrille Morelle

President and CEO

VeEX Inc

Cyrille Morelle is president and CEO for VeEX Inc. In this role he is responsible for global operations, product development and technology strategy. With nearly 20 years in the telecommunications industry, Cyrille held various management positions including vice president of product marketing for Sunrise Telecom, Inc. Cyrille co-founded VeEX in 2006 and serves as a member of the board of directors.

He holds a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from San Jose State University and a Master of Science in Telecommunication and General Engineering from ESME Sundria, Paris, France.

Kevin Morgan

Director of Marketing, Carrier Networks

Adtran

Kevin Morgan has more than 20 years of telecom experience. As ADTRAN’s director of marketing and communications, Kevin manages the development, integration and execution of all marketing communication strategies and programs designed to promote, enhance and protect ADTRAN products and solutions. He is responsible for a broad range of activities related to the positioning and consistent communication of the ADTRAN value proposition, unique benefits and corporate messages on a global basis.

Kevin began his career with South Central Bell Telecommunications in 1987 and moved through a variety of job responsibilities over the next several years. He has been involved in advanced technology efforts since becoming part of the BellSouth Science and Technology department in 1992. Kevin joined ADTRAN in 1996 and has held assignments of increasing responsibility in Product Management, Product Marketing, International Marketing and Customer Advocacy.

He holds a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from Auburn University and an MBA from The University of Alabama.

Sean Moody

Project Administrator

City of Santa Fe, New Mexico

Sean Moody has managed three of the most significant urban renewal/economic development projects in the recent history of Santa Fe, New Mexico, including the $60 million Santa Fe Railyard redevelopment, the $45 million College of Santa Fe lease/purchase and the $1 million Santa Fe Fiber municipal telecom project. He was previously a vice president of Sarcon Construction, the largest union contractor in Northern New Mexico, responsible for major area projects ranging from public parks, buildings and infrastructure to hydroelectric dam facilities to the Santa Fe Opera rehearsal hall. Sean has a degree in mathematics with a minor in physics from Clark University, and received a graduate fellowship in economic geography from UCLA. He is currently employed by the City of Santa Fe and is serving on a statewide broadband task force.

Philip Nutsugah

VP, Product Development & Management, Broadband Access

Cox Communications

Philip Nutsugah is responsible for developing and managing Cox Communications' wireline and wireless Internet access product portfolio, including Gigablast, Cox's Fiber-to-the home residential 1 Gigabit service; Cox high-speed Internet; Cox WiFi; and the evolution to DOCSIS 3.1. Prior to joining Cox Communications in March 2006, Philip worked for Verizon and GTE in various leadership roles. He sits on the Board of Directors for Camp Twin Lakes Inc., an Atlanta non-profit organization devoted to improving the lives of children with disabilities, where he is a member of the Executive Committee and chair of the Human Resources Committee.

Bill Price

Manager Digital Georgia Program

Georgia Technology Authority

Bill Price has over 30 years in telecommunications and technology services development and operations. His track record of delivering results spans wireless, wireline, Internet services and applications. Bill successfully launched and managed the first Metropolitan Area Network at Centel in Tallahassee, Florida where he led Sprint’s Advanced Network Service group. Bill led the launch and operations BellSouth’s Internet Division in 1995. Bill is currently responsible for leading the Digital Georgia Program at the Georgia Technology Authority (GTA) for the State of Georgia which invests in projects and resources to increase the use of digital technologies and applications. Bill leads the team which works with and supports local and state government organizations as well as private sector technology companies.

Kurt Raaflaub

Senior Manager, Carrier Networks Product Marketing

ADTRAN

Kurt Raaflaub serves as ADTRAN’s senior manager of strategic solutions marketing, and has more than 20 years’ experience in telecom. He has global solutions marketing responsibility for SDN/NFV, Gigabit Broadband, Packet Optical, Carrier Ethernet-based Cloud Connectivity as well as managed/hosted ProCloud services delivery for residential, enterprise and backhaul markets. Prior to his current position, Raaflaub was responsible for directing ADTRAN’s Broadband, Carrier Ethernet and Packet Optical solutions marketing activities within ADTRAN’s Carrier Networks Division. In 2006, he joined ADTRAN from Nortel where for over a decade, he held various roles focused on marketing and managing new disruptive market opportunities.

Daniel Rothman

Chief Technology Officer

City of Boston

Matthew Schultz

VP and Secretary, Australian Smart Communities Assn. Regional Digital Economy Coordinator

Ipswich City Council, Queensland, Australia

Matthew Schultz is an accomplished and experienced professional with 20 years’ experience in the information technology, telecommunications, digital economy, geospatial and civil engineering fields covering project management, consulting, general management and technical roles. Matthew's core role is to facilitate next-generation fixed and mobile broadband and other gigital infrastructure investment within the Ipswich City region and promote and implement emerging digital economic initiatives that utilize the NBN and other broadband networks as a delivery platform. Matthew is also currently delivering key digital literacy training initiatives and investigating emerging Smart City initiatives, including high-capacity WiFi, dark fiber, IoT and M2M opportunities.

Herb Sih

Managing Partner & Co-Founder

Think Big Partners

Herb has started numerous companies, some receiving national recognition for high growth, etc (Inc. 500, etc). Herb also spent 15 years as an investment professional, with the majority of that time as Senior Vice President for Wachovia Securities. He managed >$1 B, was a co-branch manager and assisted in investment banking activities.

Currently, Mr. Sih is Managing Partner and Co-Founder, Think Big Partners, an early stage, technology focused hybrid business incubator and startup accelerator. We specialize in identifying high potential ideas and early stage companies by offering specialized professional services, industry specific consulting and deep market insight to turn good ideas into profitable companies quickly.

Andy Smith

Vice President

CoBank

A graduate of Auburn University, Andy has over 25 years of experience in the banking industry and has been with CoBank since 1998. As a Relationship Manager for the Communications Banking Group, Andy is responsible for sourcing, underwriting, structuring and monitoring loans to communications companies serving predominantly rural communities. During his tenor at CoBank, Andy has closed over $1.0 billion in loan facilities to Local Exchange, Wireless, Cable, Fiber Transport, Data Center and Tower companies. His customers are providing and deploying robust broadband networks in some of the most rural locations in the United States. CoBank’s Communications Banking Group provides nearly $4.5 and $3.5 billion in loan commitments and outstandings respectively to telecommunications providers located throughout the United States.

CoBank, ACB is a $107 billion cooperative bank serving vital industries across rural America. The bank provides loans, leases, export financing and other financial services to agribusinesses and rural power, water and communications providers in all 50 states. The bank also provides wholesale loans and other 3 financial services to affiliated Farm Credit associations serving farmers, ranchers and other rural borrowers in 23 states around the country. CoBank is a member of the Farm Credit System, a nationwide network of banks and retail lending associations chartered to support the borrowing needs of U.S. agriculture and the nation's rural economy. Headquartered outside Denver, Colorado, CoBank serves customers from regional banking centers across the U.S. and also maintains an international representative office in Singapore.

Deb Socia

Executive Director

Next Century Cities

Deb Socia is the Executive Director of Next Century Cities, a new initiative that strives to support community leaders across the country as they seek to ensure that all have access to fast, affordable, and reliable Internet. More than 50 cities strong, Next Century Cities is committed to celebrating city successes, demonstrating the value of truly high speed broadband, and elevating the importance of next generation broadband as essential infrastructure.
Prior to her new role as the Executive Director of Next Century Cities, Deb was the Executive Director of the Tech Goes Home program whose mission is to ensure digital equity. Tech Goes Home provides training, hardware, and low cost Internet access to all eligible participants and supported nearly 14,000 participants during Deb’s tenure.
Previously, Deb spent 32 years as an educator and administrator. She was the founding principal of the Lilla G. Frederick Middle School, a Boston Public School where she led the one-to-one laptop initiative. The school won several awards for its efforts at technology integration, including designation as an Apple Distinguished School in 2009 and 2010.
Deb was named the NATOA Community Broadband Hero in 2013, received the 2013 Pathfinder Award from MassCUE, the 2010 “Leadership and Vision” award from CRSTE (Capitol Region Society for Technology in Education), the Quincy/Geneva Community Advocate award in 2009, and the Lilla G. Frederick Award in 2008.
Prior to her more recent positions, Deb worked as a district level Curriculum Coordinator, as the Program Director for the Coalition of Essential Schools, and as a middle school mathematics and science teacher.

Elin Swanson Katz

Consumer Counsel

State of Connecticut

Elin Swanson Katz was appointed Connecticut’s Consumer Counsel by Governor Dannel P. Malloy in October 2011, and confirmed by the Connecticut House of Representatives on February 23, 2012 for a five-year term. She heads the Office of Consumer Counsel, an independent state agency that advocates on behalf of consumers in matters relating to electricity, water, natural gas, and telecommunications. The office has served as an independent voice for Connecticut’s residents, municipalities, and businesses since 1978, working for high-quality utility service at a reasonable cost, sensible public policies and legislation, and, particularly in recent times, effective utility storm response.

Sherrie Williams

Executive Director

Georgia Partnership For Telehealth

Sherrie Williams: LCSW, Executive Director for Georgia Partnership For Telehealth, knows that telemedicine is THE answer for Georgia’s healthcare shortage. After graduating with a Masters of Social Work degree from Valdosta State University she began working in the private mental health field and public school system. For nearly 15 years, she witnessed first hand what happens to children and families when necessary medical and mental health care is out of reach. As more and more rural health providers disappear and fewer specialist move into rural locations, Mrs. Williams understands the critical nature of strengthening and expanding the Georgia telehealth network. By working with existing and potential partners in Georgia to implement and design sustainability strategies for telemedicine programs, she believes that all Georgians will remain connected to healthcare.

Jay Wilson

Senior Vice President and General Manager, Carrier Networks Division

Adtran

As senior vice president and general manager of the Carrier Networks (CN) Division, Wilson is responsible for all carrier engineering, marketing, sales and support functions. Wilson joined ADTRAN in 1998. He has served in a number of roles for the Carrier Networks Division and most recently served as vice president of product marketing. He has played a key role in the development and introduction of several ADTRAN product lines that are widely deployed by telecommunications carriers. Prior to joining ADTRAN, Wilson served in a number of management roles for Wyle Laboratories. While there, his responsibilities included sales, marketing and engineering management for Wyle’s testing and engineering services to the telecommunications, aerospace/defense and nuclear equipment qualification industries. Wilson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Vanderbilt University.

Jory Wolf

Chief Information Officer

City of Santa Monica

Jory Wolf is Chief Information Officer for the City of Santa Monica. His responsibilities include planning and management of all automated information systems and services, including computing, networking, telecommunications, public safety radio, and geospatial and web based technologies. He has held progressively responsible positions at the City and has over thirty five years’ experience in information technology.
In 2005, he launched Santa Monica City Wi-FiSM which provides free internet services to the public through a network of 32 hot zones and wireless coverage in most major commercial and transit corridors throughout the city.
In 2006, he launched Santa Monica City NetSM, a 10 gigabit broadband initiative to support an environment for local businesses to compete in the global economy with cutting edge network solutions. The services have been adopted by tech, new media and entertainment companies as well as incubators and local startups. It is a major contributor to local economic development and supports Santa Monica as being the hub of Silicon Beach.
In 2007, he started the implementation of intelligent parking, traffic and transportation systems that today, provide Santa Monica with traffic signal synchronization, transit priority, over 600 public safety and traffic cameras, mass transit management, wireless on-street parking meters, next bus apps and signage, and real-time parking availability signage and apps on smartphones operated by a sophisticated Transportation Management Center.

Moderators

Alan Breznick

Cable Video Practice/Leader

Light Reading

Alan Breznick has tracked the media, telecommunications, broadband, and consumer electronics industries for more than 20 years. Before switching over to Heavy Reading in 2007, he was the original editor of Light Reading Cable Website and founding author of Heavy Reading's Cable Industry Insider. At Heavy Reading, he primarily focuses on cable/MSO services, technologies, and networks, as well as IPTV infrastructure. Alan was formerly a broadband analyst for Kinetic Strategies and a contributing analyst for One Touch Intelligence. He previously reported for Communications Daily, Cable World, Multichannel News, Broadband Daily, Crain's New York Business, and Genuine Article Press, among other publications.

Tim Downs

VP of Emerging Markets & Conference Director

Light Reading

Tim Downs has a 15-year track record identifying new and emerging technology trends in the telecom and wireless industry, and developing media properties to support the development of the supplier ecosystem. As co-founder and President of Shorecliff Communications, he developed four of the telecom industry’s most successful niche trade exhibitions, as well as more than 35 technology conferences, websites and publications. Shorecliff was acquired by CMP Media (a unit of United Business Media) in 2007.

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