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Speaker
Biographies
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| Stephen Araps - Chief Technical Officer, The BTP Group
|
Stephen Araps is the Chief Technical Officer
for The BTP Group, a company providing broadband service
solutions including complete turnkey systems for new and
expanding wireless ISPs in rural and secondary tier
markets.
Prior to joining The BTP Group, Mr. Araps was
with Broadband Office (and then Zephion Networks), negotiating
and contracting strategic partnerships, and also planning and
managing the company's metropolitan fiber networks. Mr.
Araps started his professional career with Bell
Atlantic/Verizon, and over 16 years he managed a variety of
functions including engineering, product management, product
development, competitive analysis, business analysis and
corporate planning. In 1995, Mr. Araps was named to manage
Bell Atlantic's operational development of wholesale telecom
services associated with the Telecom Act of 1996. He later
designed and launched the service management team responsible
for resolving customer issues for these same services.
Mr. Araps holds a Bachelor of Science degree in
Chemical Engineering from the University of Virginia and a
Masters degree in Business Administration from George Mason
University.
|
| Jeff Arnold - Deputy Legislative Director, National
Association of Counties |
Jeff serves as Deputy Legislative Director of
the National Association of Counties (NACo). He has nearly
twenty-five years experience in Washington, D.C., working on,
and with, Capitol Hill. He is NACo’s chief lobbyist on
telecommunications and technology policy.
Jeff is
responsible for managing NACo's policy development process for
all issues, and coordinates the policy steering committee
member appointment process. He is also responsible for the
administrative functions of the Legislative Department.
Jeff also serves as NACo’s representative on the
Department of Homeland Security’s Data Management Improvement
Act Task Force relating to security, immigration and
commercial policy.
Jeff joined NACo's legislative staff
in January 1994. Prior to joining NACo, he served as the
Deputy Director of the Office of Congressional and Legislative
Affairs and Senate Liaison at the U.S. Department of the
Interior, and before that, as Chief of the Office of
Congressional and Legislative Affairs for the Minerals
Management Service, a bureau of the Department.
Jeff's
early career in Washington, D.C. was spent on Capitol Hill. He
spent nearly two years as a Professional Staff Member for the
U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Arnold
worked on the legislative staff of former U.S. Senator Mark O.
Hatfield of Oregon for six years.
A native of Eugene,
Oregon, Arnold earned his Bachelor of Science degree from the
University of Oregon, with honors.
|
| Robert D. Atkinson - Vice-President, Progressive Policy
Institute |
Rob Atkinson is vice president of the
Progressive Policy Institute and director of PPI's Technology
& New Economy Project. He is the author of the New Economy
Index series which looks at the impact of the New Economy on
the U.S., state and metropolitan economies. While at PPI he
has written groundbreaking reports on a wide range of
technology issues, including the role of IT in homeland
defense; Internet taxation, privacy, and spam; global
e-commerce; digital government; and middleman opposition to
e-commerce. He also directed PPI's New Economy Task Force,
co-chaired by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and Gateway
CEO Ted Waitt.
Previously Dr. Atkinson served as
executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Policy
Council, a public private partnership including as members the
Governor, legislative leaders, and corporate and labor
leaders. Prior to that he was project director at the former
Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. While at OTA,
he directed "The Technological Reshaping of Metropolitan
America," a report examining the impact of the information
technology revolution on America's urban areas.
He is
a board member of the NanoBusiness Alliance and the
Information Policy Institute, and was appointed by President
Clinton to the Commission on Workers, Communities, and
Economic Change in the New Economy. He is also a member of the
Task Force on National Security in the Information Age,
co-chaired by Markle Foundation president Zoe Baird and former
Netscape Communications chairman James Barksdale.
In
1999, he was featured in "Who's Who in America: Finance and
Industry." In 2002, he was awarded the Wharton Infosys
Business Transformation Award Silver Medal. In addition,
Government Technology magazine and the Center for Digital
Government named him one of the 25 top "Doers, Dreamers and
Drivers of Information Technology." He received his Ph.D. in
City and Regional Planning from the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1989. Additional
Information
|
| James Baker - Chief - Information Technologies Group,
SEDA-COG |
Jim Baker heads the SEDA-Council of
Governments' (SEDA-COG’s) Information Technologies Group
(ITG), supervising a staff of six. Technology services are
provided to SEDA-COG's 65 in-house employees, the
organization's 11 member counties, and many other local
government entities.
SEDA-COG is a regional
multi-county development agency which seeks to enhance
economic growth opportunities. Of the 80+ employees,
approximately 50 are professionals directly involved in
economic development efforts including infrastructure for
community improvement and industry location and expansion,
arranging small business loans, planning transportation, and
performing technology education, planning, and deployment.
Jim serves SEDA-COG in a capacity similar to a CIO. He
provides analysis and advice to SEDA-COG staff and partners on
technology issues encountered in the attraction of businesses
to the SEDA-COG area. This regularly involves research on
services and telecommunications infrastructure available to
particular municipalities and sites and relating findings to
the needs expressed by such businesses. He also deals with
similar issues from local businesses that desire to upgrade
their telecommunications capacity.
Jim has earned many
technical certifications. He is a Certified Novell
Administrator in versions 3.1 and 4.1, and a Microsoft
Certified Professional in NT Workstations and NT Servers. He
has also received extensive training in numerous computer
applications including Exchange Server, Small Business Server,
Internet Technologies, project management, records management,
accounting, publishing, and Geographic Information Systems.
In the late '70s Jim learned basic programming on the
Radio Shack TS-80 and wrote inventory and scheduling programs
for his own businesses. In the early '80s, after a working in
technical support for a software company, Jim became co-owner
and operator of DataPulse, an office records management firm
that worked with health care companies. Jim moved to
Pennsylvania in the early '90s and was employed in a technical
support capacity by CompuData, a Pennsylvania firm offering
accounting and patient records management.
He joined
the staff of SEDA-COG in 1996 to provide assistance with
Internet technologies, and assumed his current position as
department head in 1999. From the beginning, Jim has been
involved with technology, telecommunications, and economic
development projects.
Jim has been requested as a
presenter or panel member at various forums including the PA
State Association of Boroughs’ Annual Conference (2002), the
Center for Rural PA’s “Rural Summit in the City” (2001), the
County Commissioners Association of PA’s Fall Conference
(2001), the PA Council of Governments Annual Conference
(2001), and the PA commission on Crime and Delinquency’s
Criminal Justice Technology Conference (2000). Jim was also
selected as one of two state representatives to attend the
Rural Telecommunications Congress in 2002. He serves on the
Technology Education Advisory Board for McCann School of
Business, on Selinsgrove Area School District’s Technology
Committee, and is a member of CPaCCIT – the Central PA Chamber
of Commerce IT Committee.
Jim was born and raised in
West Virginia. His military background includes a combat tour
in Vietnam, ’68-’69, with the First Infantry Division where he
rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant in a specialty of Infantry
Operations/Intelligence.
|
| Jim Baller - Founder, Baller Herbst Law Group
|
Jim Baller is the founder of the Baller Herbst
Law Group, PC. His practice includes a broad range of
communications matters on behalf of the American Public Power
Association, the National Association of Telecommunications
Officers and Advisors, municipal leagues and utility
associations, and numerous individual local governments and
public power utilities. He was NATOA’s Member of the Year for
2001.
Working regularly with multi-disciplinary teams
of legal, financial, accounting, engineering and other
technical experts, Mr. Baller assists public entities in
making comprehensive telecommunications plans, developing
state-of-the-art communications systems, searching for
strategic partners, and integrating right-of-way and zoning
ordinances, franchises, licenses, pole-attachment agreements,
contracts, forms, permits and other related documents. He also
represents NATOA and dozens of communities in bankruptcy
matters.
Mr. Baller was lead counsel in successful
challenges to Virginia’s and Missouri’s state barriers to
municipal involvement in telecommunications. The Missouri case
is currently before the United States Supreme Court. He is
also lead counsel defending an important victory in a case
involving the meaning of the term "level playing field" in the
context of cable franchising.
Mr. Baller is recognized
as one of the nation’s most knowledgeable attorneys on
community broadband matters and was recently featured in a
lengthy interview on that subject.
http://www.broadbandreports.com/shownews/28553
He is a
graduate of Dartmouth College (BS Economics 1969) and Cornell
Law School (J.D. 1972
|
| Claudia Bitner - President and Founder, MyStateUSA
|
Claudia Bitner, President and Founder of
MyStateUSA, a Boise, Idaho technology corporation. Ms. Bitner
grew up on a ranch in Midvale, Idaho, population 100. She has
an enduring interest in enhancing economic opportunities
through technology in rural communities. Ms. Bitner’s
professional background includes technology and marketing
leadership positions with Hewlett Packard and the Bank of
Idaho. Her expertise includes detailed knowledge of the
technical and political aspects of setting up complex,
community-based information systems. Ms. Bitner has worked
with state and local government agencies to test and introduce
new security information systems. A frequent national speaker
on homeland security issues, Ms Bitner serves on the board of
directors of the Rural Telecommunication Congress.
|
| Shirley Bloomfield - Vice President of Government Affairs and
Associations Services, NTCA |
Shirley Bloomfield is the Vice President of
Government Affairs and Associations Services for the National
Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA). She
represents the public policy concerns of NTCA’s members before
Congress, federal agencies, and industry forums. In addition,
Ms. Bloomfield oversees Education, Meetings, Membership,
Communications, and The Foundation for Rural Service, for the
association.
Prior to joining NTCA as a Legislative
Representative in 1986, Ms. Bloomfield was the Press Aide for
the United States House of Representatives Budget Committee.
She began her legislative career as a Legislative Aide for
Representative Dave Obey of Wisconsin.
Ms. Bloomfield
holds a B.A. degree in Economics from Northwestern University
in Evanston, Illinois and a Masters Degree in Public
Administration from American University in Washington, DC.
NTCA is a national trade association made up of 557
locally owned and operated small, rural, community-based
telecommunications providers located throughout the nation.
She resides in Arlington, VA with her husband, 2 daughters.
|
| Matthew Brill - Senior Legal Advisor, Federal Communications
Commission |
Matthew Brill serves as Senior Legal Advisor to
Commissioner Kathleen Q. Abernathy. In addition to functioning
as the Commissioner’s chief of staff, Mr. Brill focuses on
wireline competition and broadband issues. Prior to joining
the FCC, Mr. Brill was an attorney in the Communications Group
at the law firm of Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering,
representing wireline and wireless carriers and Internet
service providers before the Commission and in the courts.
Before that, Mr. Brill clerked for the Honorable Thomas
Penfield Jackson of the United States District Court for the
District of Columbia. Mr. Brill graduated magna cum laude from
Harvard Law School and summa cum laude from Dartmouth College.
|
| Edward Buckstel - Vice President, SkyFrames Incorporated
|
Edward Bukstel has 18 years of data
integration, data security, and communications experience.
Mr. Bukstel has successfully licensed systems and
services to companies, including major pharmaceutical and
managed care organizations. He was a founding member of the
ASTM E1238 Standard that became integrating into HL7. He has
been a national speaker on electronic data interchange and has
been a guest lecturer at The Wharton Business School.
Mr. Bukstel was a Vice President at Synetic and
CareInsite Corporation (currently WebMD). Hel was President of
the information systems division of a Nasdaq listed company
Advanced Health Corporation. Mr. Bukstel is a graduate of
Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA and has completed graduate
level courses in molecular biology at Temple University,
Philadelphia, PA.
|
| Larry Burkhardt - Rural Telecommunications Congress Board of
Directors |
Larry Burkhardt is the first employee of the
Nevada County Economic Resource Council (ERC), serving as
President/CEO since October of 1996. Prior to coming to
California, Larry was employed as President/CEO of the
Economic Development Association of Longmont (EDAL), Colorado.
Before being hired by EDAL, Larry represented the City of
Longmont on the EDAL Board of Directors for six
years.
Larry’s interest in local economic development
grew from his involvement in local government. Serving as a
Longmont City Councilman for eleven years, he was first
elected in 1981. He served a two year elected term as
Longmont’s Mayor, from 1985—1987. He has served on numerous
boards and commissions over the years. Currently Larry serves
as Chairman of the Upstate California Economic Development
Council, is a member of the Team California Partnership
Council, and serves on the Comstock’s Business Magazine
Editorial Board. He hosts a weekly radio talk show on AM radio
station KNCO.
Larry holds a BA in philosophy and
completed two years of graduate work in theology. He and his
wife, Linda, have two adult children, Cori and Nathan.
|
| Hon. Conrad Burns - U.S. Senator from Montana |
Conrad Burns became only the second Republican
Senator in Montana’s history, defeating incumbent John Melcher
in 1989. Now in his third-term, Senator Burns is the
longest-serving Republican Senator in Montana
history.
With a seat on the powerful Senate
Appropriations Committee, Senator Burns has been able to bring
in over $1 billion in federal funds to the state since he took
office. He has been a champion of a fiscally conservative
government and a strong voice for lower taxes to create new
businesses and more jobs. He has expanded Montana’s job base
by establishing more balanced trade with Canada and brought
better education and health care to Montanans by encouraging
hi-tech investment in the state. He has pursued new markets
for agricultural producers while securing millions of dollars
in grants for research and marketing
improvements.
Serving as Chairman of the Senate
Interior Appropriations subcommittee for the 108th Congress,
Senator Burns has jurisdiction over all the country’s federal
lands and the National Park Service. His love of the outdoors
brings him back to Montana several times each month and has
made him a guardian of the state’s vast natural resources. As
a result of his work in the Senate, over 70 rural Montana
communities have adopted enforceable drinking water protection
programs and funding has become available to safeguard acres
of Montana through the Land and Water Conservation
Fund.
On the national level, Senator Burns has
criticized America’s dependency upon foreign oil supplies,
calling on Congress to ban imports from Iraq and increase
domestic production and research in fuel cell technology. He
has also cosponsored a Senate bill to voluntarily arm airline
pilots to protect against future terrorist attacks.
In
1997, Senator Burns became Chairman of the Communications
Subcommittee, one of the major regulatory posts in Congress.
Since then he has been praised as “one of the fathers of the
modern Internet,” standing for deregulation, the roll-out of
broadband in rural areas, and pushing for new Internet and
mobile phone technologies. He authored section 706 of the 1996
Telecommunications Act and in 1999 unveiled the “Digital
Dozen” proposal of telecom legislation. During the 107th
Congress, Senator Burns pushed his “Tech 7" agenda, which
aimed to bring greater security to the Internet. At the open
of the 108th Congress, Senator Burns unveiled his “NexGenTen”
Tech Agenda, ten top priority items to strengthen security and
usher reform for 21st century communication.
Burns was
born on a farm near Gallatin, Missouri on January 25, 1935 to
Russell and Mary Frances (Knight) Burns. Graduating from
Gallatin High School in 1952, Senator Burns enrolled in the
College of Agriculture at the University of Missouri. Two
years later Burns enlisted in the Marine Corps and was posted
in East Asia.
Following his military service Burns
began working for TWA and Ozark airlines until 1962, when he
became a field representative for Polled Hereford World
magazine in Billings, Montana. Named the first manager of the
Northern International Livestock Expo in 1968, Burns began his
career in radio and television broadcasting, reporting on
agricultural market news and establishing his reputation as
the voice of Montana agriculture.
In 1975, Burns
founded four radio stations known as the Northern Ag Network,
which grew to serve 31 radio and TV stations across Montana
and Wyoming when he sold it in 1986.
Burns began his
career in politics when he was elected to the Yellowstone
County Commission, serving for two years before deciding to
run for the U.S. Senate.
|
| Anne Byers - Community Information Technology Manager,
Nebrask Information Technology Commission |
Anne Byers has been an advocate of the use of
information technology as a community development tool since
1992. As the Community Information Technology Manager for the
Nebraska Information Technology Commission, she manages a
community technology grant program and provides support to the
Commission’s advisory group on community technology issues.
She is currently working with the Technologies Across Nebraska
initiative to provide assistance to communities in addressing
IT-related development. She has been in her current position
since 1999.
Previously, she developed and coordinated
the award-winning Master Navigator community Internet training
program at the University of Nebraska's Center for Rural
Community Revitalization Development. Ms. Byers was also an
information specialist for Kansas State University's Rural
Clearinghouse on Lifelong Education and Development from
1992-1996 and a field representative for Boston University’s
Overseas Program in Kitzengen and Wuerzburg, Germany from
1987-1990. Ms. Byers has a bachelor's degree in journalism
from the University of Nebraska and a master's degree in human
resource education from Boston University.
|
| Richard Civille |
Richard Civille has worked in
telecommunications and community economic development for over
twenty years, with a particular focus on the effective use of
emerging media for small business owners, government agencies
and non-profit organizations. He is president of a small
technology research and project management consulting firm and
executive director of a nonprofit organization that promotes
use of the Internet for civic participation and community
economic development.
Richard has published numerous
articles on the social effects of information infrastructure,
served as principal investigator for several federally
sponsored research projects attracting several million in
funding, and is a frequent speaker at conferences addressing
telecommunications policy and the social impacts of emerging
technologies.
He has consulted to federal, state and
local agencies, municipalities, universities, corporations and
not-for-profit organizations on Internet strategic planning,
telecommunications policy, electronic commerce and community
economic development. He is a graduate of the University of
California, Santa Cruz and lives in the small town of Friday
Harbor, Washington in the San Juan Islands. He serves on the
board of directors of the Rural Telecommunications Congress,
and the trustees of the San Juan Island Library.
|
| Norvill Clark - Site Facilitator, PowerUp Technology
Center |
Norvill Clark is one of two Site Facilitators
at the PowerUP Technology Center located in Richwood, WV.
He has more than 20 years of private sector technology
related experience, starting with Control Data Corporation in
1982. From 1993-2000 he worked in telecommunications with
affiliates of the Williams Company and later with AT&T
Broadband. In addition he headed the Sales Department of
Datastructure, a Hewlett Packard Channel Partner specializing
in Data Storage and Data Management tools.
Presently
Mr. Clark is an active participant of various organizations
dedicated to the economic revitalization of central West
Virginia. Accordingly he actively participates in the
activities of both the Alliance of Champion Communities and
the Mountain Champion Community First, Inc. and is a member of
the Steering Committee for Project Good Start in Richwood,
WV.
|
| Andrew Cohill, Ph.D. - President, Design Nine |
Dr. Cohill is an information architect and the
president of Design Nine, a technolgy advisory firm in
Blacksburg, Virginia. He served as Director of the
world-renowned Blacksburg Electronic Village for almost a
decade. While BEV Director, Blacksburg was widely hailed as
the most wired community in the world, and today, virtually
all Blacksburg homes and businesses have one or more
affordable broadband options.
Cohill has an
international reputation for his community technology and
economic development efforts. Cohill is on the Board of
Directors of the Association For Community Networks, and
served two terms as President of that organization. He is also
on the board of the Rural Telecommunications Congress, and is
on the Advisory Board of Communities of the Future. He served
as co-chair of the Governor's Task Force on eCommunities for
Virginia in 2000 and 2001. He advised Hewlett-Packard on the
design and development of the company's $15 million Digital
Villages initiative in 2000-2001.
His numerous papers,
articles, and book chapters have been widely read worldwide,
and he speaks frequently on community technology needs,
economic development issues, and the impact of technology on
our lives. He is an author and co-editor of "Community
Networks: Lessons Learned from Blacksburg, Virginia", now in
its second edition.
He is in wide national and
international demand as a speaker and consultant on community
use of technology because of his effectiveness in speaking
clearly and simply about complex technology issues, and his
shrewd insights on the future of communities. Cohill is an
expert on the planning and design of community networks, and
has worked with more than 100 communities around the world. Additional
Information
|
| Bill Coleman - Principal, Community Technology
Advisors |
Bill Coleman is a principal in Community
Technology Advisors Corp., a Minnesota-based consulting firm
and has a unique combination of economic development and
telecommunications expertise.
He has 15 years of
economic development experience with the MN Department of
Trade & Economic Development, including serving as a key
staff in the Minnesota Star City and Business Retention and
Expansion programs. Bill is on the board of the Midwest
Institute for Telecommuting Education and is a past board
member of the Economic Development Association of Minnesota.
In the private sector, Bill served as Onvoy's lead
consultant for telecommunications and technology development
efforts in rural markets before leaving to form Community
Technology Advisors in May 2000.
|
| Michael Copps - Commissioner, Federal Communications
Commission |
Nominated May 1, 2001; confirmed May 25, 2001;
sworn in May 31, 2001. Copps served until January 2001 as
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Trade Development at the
U.S. Department of Commerce, where he was previously Deputy
Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Basic Industries. Copps
came to Washington in 1970, joining the staff of Senator
Ernest Hollings (D-SC) and serving for over a dozen years as
Chief of Staff. He has also held positions at Collins and
Aikman Corporation and the American Meat Institute. Before
coming to Washington, Copps was a professor of U.S. History at
Loyola University of the South.
Copps received a B.A.
from Wofford College and earned a Ph.D. from the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Additional Information
|
| Thomas Dorr - Under Secretary for Rural Development,
USDA |
Thomas C. Dorr was appointed by President
George W. Bush to be the Under Secretary for Rural Development
and was sworn into office by Agriculture Secretary Ann M.
Veneman on August 9, 2002.
As Under Secretary, Mr.
Dorr oversees the USDA Rural Development Mission Area, which
consists of three agencies; $14 billion annual funding
authority for loans, grants, and technical assistance to rural
residents, communities, and businesses; and an $80 billion
portfolio of existing business, housing, and infrastructure
loans to rural America. Rural Development has over 7,000
employees located across the United States and in Puerto Rico,
the Virgin Islands, and the Western Pacific Trust
territories.
Mr. Dorr has broad agricultural, financial and
business experience. He has served as a member of the Board of
Directors of the 7th District Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago,
the Iowa Board of Regents from 1991-1997, and as a member and
officer of the Iowa and National Corn Growers
Associations.
Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Dorr
was the President of a family agribusiness company consisting
of a corn and soybean farm, a state licensed commercial grain
elevator and warehouse, and two limited liability
companies.
Mr. Dorr, from Marcus, Iowa, graduated from
Morningside College with a B.S. degree in business
administration. He is married to Ann Dorr and has two
children, Allison and Andrew.
|
| Dr. William L. England -
Director of Operations, Universal
Service Administration, Rural Health Care |
Dr. England has been the Director of Operations
for the Universal Service, Rural Health Care Program since its
inception in 1998. Previously, he was a project officer for
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, where he
oversaw the Medicare telemedicine demonstration, the Arizona
Medicaid Demonstration, and other reimbursement research
projects. Before CMS, Dr. England was an Assistant Professor
of Industrial Engineering at the University of Wisconsin and a
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Faculty Fellow in Health Care
Financing. Dr. England serves on Boards of the American
Telemedicine Association and the “The Telehealth Law Report”.
He holds BS and MS degrees in Electrical Engineering and a
Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering (Health Systems) from Purdue
University, and a law degree from the University of Maryland.
He is a licensed professional engineer in Maryland and a
member of the Bar in Maryland and DC.
|
| Gary Fields - President of Development Strategies,
Resources, Inc. |
Gary Fields is the President of Development
Strategies, and Resources, Inc., a consulting organization
that assists development organizations in designing and
implementing new programs and projects. He is the Project
Consultant to the Blandin Foundation, where he designed and
implemented their Rural Broadband Initiative.
From
1997-2002, Mr. Fields was the Deputy Commissioner for the
Minnesota Department of Trade and Economic Development, where
he administered the Business and Community Development
Division and was the principal architect of the State’s
economic development strategy.
From 1992-1997, Mr.
Fields was Vice President with Springsted Public Finance
Advisors (St. Paul), where he was the Team Manager of
Springsted’s Housing and Economic Development Specialty
Finance Group where he assisted municipal agencies in
designing and delivering financing programs to meet their
development objectives. Prior to Springsted, Mr. Fields was a
Director with the National Development Council (New York),
where he worked with national, state and local development
agencies and trained over 2,000 professionals in NDC’s
Economic Development Finance Professional Certification
Program.
Mr. Fields has over 25 years experience in
Economic and Community Development and has financed over $1.0
Billion in development projects. He has a Masters degree from
the University of Minnesota and a Bachelors degree from the
University of Illinois. He resides in St. Paul, Minnesota.
|
| Linda Garcia - Director of Communications, Culture and
Technology program,Georgetown University |
Linda Garcia is the director of Georgetown
University’s Communication, Culture, and Technology program.
She joined the program in 1996 and served as Research
Professor and Associate Director before becoming Director in
2001.
Previously, she was Project Director and Senior
Associate at the Office of Technology Assessment, of the US
Congress where Dr. Garcia directed studies on electronic
commerce, intellectual property rights, national and
international telecommunications policy, standards
development, and telecommunication and economic development.
Dr. Garcia received her Ph.D in Social Science and Informatics
from the University of Amsterdam.
|
| Bill Gillis, Ph.D. - Economist and Director, Center to Bridge the
Digital Divide |
Dr. William Gillis is an economist and Director
of the Center to Bridge the Digital Divide at Washington State
University. The Center provides telecommunications policy
research and assistance to businesses, individuals and
governments to create new economic opportunities and improved
access to education, health care and civic participation.
Gillis has served as a state of Washington Public
Service Commissioner, Chair of the FCC Rural Task Force on
Universal Service and Chair of the National Association of
Regulatory Utility Commissioners Committee on Consumer
Affairs. He also co-founded and served as President of The
Gillis Group, a private economic development and
transportation planning firm.
|
| Victor Glass, Ph.D. - Director of Demand Forecasting, NECA
|
Dr. Victor Glass holds the position of Director
of Demand Forecasting and Rate Development. At NECA since
1984, Mr. Glass is currently responsible for forecasting
demand and setting switched and special rates for more than
1100 telephone companies. During recent years, he has been
heavily involved in access restructure, universal service
reform, and new access services. He is the lead author of
NECA’s broadband and end user studies. He is a contributor to
Legg Mason’s quarterly Equity Research Report. His recent
articles have appeared in America’s Network, Rural
Telecommunications, Xchange, Opastco Advocate, Government
Information Quarterly, and the Journal of Business
Forecasting. He is a member of the Rural Policy Research
Institute’s telecommunications panel. Dr. Glass earned his
Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University.
|
| Marty Hale - Founder and CEO, Blue Moon Solutions
|
Marty Hale is Founder and Chief Executive
Officer of Blue Moon, which provides Broadband solutions for
rural and underserved areas. Mr. Hale is responsible for
bridging the digital divide in over 20 rural communities in
2003. He has extensive experience in Executive Level Business
Development, Sales, and Marketing. As a talented author and
speaker, he has spoken to over 2000 audiences around the
globe. He has been on national television many times,
interviewed by World News Today (June 2000) as "The CEO of the
decade", featured in Success Magazine (January 1999) as a "Top
Gun", cover story in Money Maker's Monthly (April 2001), and
received numerous other awards.
|
| Roger Hansen - Team Leader, Utah Bureau of
Reclamation |
Roger D. Hansen is a team leader at the Provo
Area Office, Utah, of the
Bureau of Reclamation. He is the
technical advisor on two Technology
Opportunity Program
(TOP) grants that are using telecommunication
technologies
to improve water and land management in rural central
Utah.
Roger's professional interests include
retrofitting
automation/Internet/decision-support
technologies onto existing water
projects and operating
water projects with a basin-wide perspective.
|
| Paul Hemminger - Chief Operating Officer, NorthBase,
Inc. |
An accomplished executive with extensive
experience in the global financial services industry, prior to
starting his own consulting practice, Paul was with
JPMorganChase for thirty years where he gained significant
international, consumer and e – Business experience. He
specializes in strategy development and implementation;
business process transformation; financial reporting; risk and
project management.
Paul is also on the faculty of the
University of Phoenix where he teaches global business
strategy.
He has spoken at industry conferences on
topics from risk management to web enabling existing business
processes and has traveled extensively in Africa and the
Middle East in addition to being posted for a number of years
in London and Sydney
Paul holds a BA in accounting from
Baldwin Wallace College, an MBA in management from Fordham
University and other graduate certificates from Rutgers
University Stonier Graduate School of Banking and Harvard
University. He is a member of the Institute of Management
Consultants, Institute of Internal Auditors and Bank
Administration Institute.
|
| John Higgins - Director of eBusiness Strategy
Group,CITE |
John is responsible for leading the eBusiness
Strategy Group at CITE. John's group assists companies in
defining eBusiness strategies and aligning their processes,
technologies, and people to gain a sustainable competitive
advantage. Prior to joining CITE John worked for Accenture
within its Supply Chain Practice. While at Accenture, John led
project teams in assisting clients in defining, developing,
and implementing supply chain strategies, processes, and
technologies aimed at streamlining business processes,
increasing revenue, reducing non-value added activities, and
reducing costs. These engagements spanned the entire supply
chain from end-to-end and included demand planning,
procurement, distribution, transportation, and asset
management activities. In addition to his work in the areas of
supply chain and logistics, John has also worked with clients
to define and implement enterprise performance measurements
and management systems aimed at transforming business strategy
into operational objectives/initiatives and at providing a
mechanism for managing the effectiveness of the organization
in executing its business strategy.
John's
professional experience also includes 3PLex.com (a Supply
Chain Management Software Company) in Cambridge, MA and United
Parcel Service. At 3PLex John served as the Director of Client
Services and Product Development. He was responsible for
managing the pre-sales and implementation groups as well as
providing the vision and direction for the Software Offering.
At UPS, John held management positions with progressive
responsibilities in the areas of small package sorting
operations, industrial engineering, information technology,
business development, and UPS Logistics. He managed both
internal and external consulting engagements. Within UPS, John
managed operations improvement teams, quality management
teams, as well as ISO 9002 efforts aimed at improving the
operational effectiveness of UPS. Externally, John assisted
clients in streamlining their distribution and transportation
operations and integrating various information technology
platforms in order to deliver operational excellence. John's
clients have included Carhartt, DeBeers Int'l, Defense
Logistics Agency, Dollar General Corporation, Fruit of the
Loom, NCS Healthcare, Quebecor, Richie Pharmaceutical, RR
Donelley, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of
Education, U.S. Postal Service, and Wallace Computer Services.
In addition to his work in the private sector, John
has also served on the Regional Executive Committee for the
Loudon County United Way and has managed
restoration/construction projects for the Metropolitan DC Area
Christmas in April Organization. John holds a B.S. in Finance
and an M.B.A. both from Western Kentucky University.
|
| Ann Hollifield, Ph.D. -
Professor, University of Georgia
|
Dr. Hollifield’s areas of specialization
include media and telecommunications ownership, management and
economics. She teaches courses in telecommunications
management and programming, advanced telecommunications
management, and graduate seminars in media management,
economics, and organizational theory at the University of
Georgia in the Department of Telecommunications.
Her
research focuses in two areas: media management and economics,
and the effects of media and communication systems on the
wider economy. Her media management research has included
studies of change management, the effects of media ownership
structures on content, and the management of transnational
media companies. Her research on the effects of media and
communications systems on the economy has included studies of
the economic goals of the U.S. national and international
communication policy, and the effects of international
copyright law on the economies of developing nations. However,
much of her work has emphasized the use of telecommunications
for economic development in rural communities. That research
has examined the effectiveness of different types of community
development projects; the relationship between community
telecommunications development projects and local adoption of
new technologies; and the individual factors that influence
decisions to adopt communication technologies among rural
residents.
|
| Joe Hummel, MD - Chief Medical Officer, NorthBase,
Incorporated |
Professionally, Dr. Hummel is an active family
practitioner in a Mayo Clinic residency program as well as
co-founder and CMO of the NorthBase corporation- the
developers of ProgressNote, the simple electronic medical
record solution. Currently, Joseph sits on the Mercy / Mayo
Clinic's Medical Records Committee, which is dedicated to the
continual improvement of the medical record. He developed and
actively teaches a medical Spanish course for health
professionals.
Joseph received his medical degree from
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he was
awarded several grants for his research focused on improving
the healthcare of indigent seniors in North Carolina. He also
graduated with Chancellor’s Distinguished Honors from UNC-CH
with a BS in Biology and a BA in Chemistry. Dr Hummel is a
member of the American Association of Family Practitioners and
the American Medical Association.
|
| Coe Hutchison - Fiber Business Manager, Grant County
PUD |
Mr. Hutchison is the Fiber Business Manager for
Grant County Public Utility District’s Zipp® Fiber Optic
Network. The Zipp® Network is a fiber-to-the-home network that
currently has fiber to approximately 10,000 homes with 4,500
customers taking service. Available services include high
speed Internet, video and telephone. Mr. Hutchison’s specific
responsibilities include business planning, pricing, customer
education, marketing, service provider relationships and
handling many of the general business issues for the Zipp®
Network. Mr. Hutchison has 29 years of varied experience in
the Northwest public power industry. Mr. Hutchison is a
graduate of the University of Washington with a bachelor’s
degree in business administration concentrating in finance.
|
| Deb Jackson - Financial Analyst, Rural Utilities Service
Telecommunications program |
Deb Jackson is a Financial Analyst with the
Broadband Team of the Rural Utilities Service
Telecommunications program. For the past year, Ms. Jackson has
been responsible for writing the regulation and implementing
the Rural Broadband Access Loan and Loan Guarantee Program
authorized by the 2002 Farm Bill.
Deb joined RUS in
1997, as a financial analyst with the Financial Services Staff
which specialized in troubled debt restructuring. In 2000, she
was selected to serve a one-year detail in the office of
Senator Max Baucus where she worked on rural
telecommunications issues. Upon her return to RUS she was
reassigned to the Office of the Program Advisor in the
Telecommunications Program working on special projects for the
Assistant Administrator, Telecommunications.
Prior to
her service with RUS, Ms. Jackson worked at the Farm Credit
Administration, the federal regulatory agency for the Farm
Credit System, first as a Credit Examiner, then as a Financial
Analyst primarily responsible for performing quantitative
analyses of legislation, proposed regulations, mergers, and
financial assistance requests.
Ms. Jackson received
her bachelor’s degree from Virginia Polytechnic Institute,
where she also completed post-graduate work in Agricultural
Economics.
|
| Christy James - President, Christy James and
Associates |
Christy James is a catalyst who recognizes
symbiosis in potential partners and is able to bring them
together to inspire action. As Community Champion Coordinator,
Christy James visted dozens of communities in Minnesota
introducing them to Virtual Entrepreneurial Network tools and
building the infrastructure to help communities support and
promote entrepreneurship.
|
| Linda Johnson, Ph.D. - President, CITE |
Dr. Johnson has an extensive background in IT
strategy and policy planning. She has consulted for numerous
multi-national corporations, educational institutions,
publishing houses and other business enterprises. Her clients
include organizations such as Prentice Hall, McGraw Hill,
General Electric, Deloro Stellite, the Commonwealth of
Kentucky, Western Kentucky University and Kathmandu University
(Nepal).
Dr. Johnson has spoken at the MAISE
conference, the nation's premier conference on e-learning and
computer-based training. She is recognized nationally in the
field of e-learning as an innovator having collaborated on the
development of the first web-based, self-paced,
competency-based computer literacy course in the United
States. She has traveled internationally to consult and to
speak in countries including England, Germany, Canada and
Nepal on the topics including information systems planning
e-learning.
Prior to her responsibilities as President
of CITE, Dr. Johnson was a Professor and Chair of the Computer
Information Systems program in the Gordon Ford College of
Business at Western Kentucky University. She is Vice President
of the Academy of Business Educators and has published over
three dozen articles and conference papers. Dr. Johnson holds
a B.A. and M.B.A from Wetern Kentucky University, and recieved
her Ph.D. in Information Systems from the University of
Kentucky.
|
| Diane Kruse - CEO, Zoomy Communications |
Diane Kruse is the CEO and founder of Zoomy
Communications. ZoomyCo provides design, engineering and
implementation support for Fiber-to-the-Home and
Fiber-to-the-Business deployments.
For the past three
years, Kruse has assisted municipalities, telecommunication
firms, real estate developments and State government agencies,
in developing Engineering and Market Feasibility Studies,
Financial Impact Studies and Business Plans, for the
deployment of advanced fiber networks in rural
areas.
Kruse has worked in the telecommunications
industry for over sixteen years. She has held numerous
management positions at Sprint, as well as founded several
telecommunication firms. She has provided consulting services
for Qwest, AT&T Broadband, Verizon Wireless, Touch
America, and several municipalities, and government agencies.
|
| Damian Kunko - CEO, Rural Broadband Coalition |
Damian Kunko is co-founder and CEO of the Rural
Broadband Coalition (RBC). Mr. Kunko has extensive experience
with Federal issues surrounding the development of broadband
policies relevant to rural areas. He is a speaker and author
on the Rural Utilities Service Broadband Loan/Grant programs
and works with providers in the creation of rural broadband
projects for RUS funding review.
Kunko formed RBC
after serving as Director of Consulting Services for Adaptive
Systems International (ASI). In this position he was primarily
responsible for the oversight and development of client
activities related to the development of applications for
Rural Utilities Service funding. Mr. Kunko also managed the
day-to-day operations of ASI as it pertains to business
development (federal and commercial), contract administration,
and personnel management.
Previously, Mr. Kunko was
engaged as a government relation’s specialist and provided
representation for clients in the technology and healthcare
industry, most notably, the Raytheon corporation. For
Raytheon, Kunko provided analysis and strategic guidance
related to Homeland Security and Biowarfare issues. He also
represented and managed the Mobile X-ray Providers
Association, a national association of rural and urban
diagnostic care businesses/professionals.
Mr. Kunko’s
key contacts with Congress include, but are not limited to,
the Washington State Congressional Delegation and the House
Appropriations Committee.
Prior to lobbying, he had
served in the office of United States Congresswoman Jennifer
Dunn (R-Wash.) in both her district and Washington DC office.
He was responsible for assisting staff in constituent
relations, public affairs, and administrative
support.
Mr. Kunko is responsible for the overall
operational activities of the Coalition and government
relations.
Mr. Kunko holds a Bachelor of Arts in
Political Science from Washington State University and served
six years in the U.S. Marine Corps. Additional Information
|
| Dr. Dave Lamie - Rural Development Economist and Outreach
Specialist, Western Illinois University |
Dr. Dave Lamie is a Rural Development Economist
and Outreach Specialist
with the Illinois Institute for
Rural Affairs at Western Illinois
University. He works
with Mapping the Future of Your Community program
and
several community technology initiatives. He attended Purdue
University where he received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in
Agricultural
Economics. He worked as a state-level Rural
Development Specialist with
Purdue Cooperative Extension
for three years. From there, he continued
his graduate
work and received a Ph.D. in Applied Economics from
Clemson University, specializing in regional
economics.
Dave spent more than six years in Virginia
as a Research Associate,
then as Assistant Professor and
Rural Development Extension Specialist
in the Department
of Agricultural and Applied Economics. Dave serves
on the
Board of Directors of the Community Development Society and
served as a member of the 2000 U.S. Host Committee for the
European
Rural University. He was a member of the Planning
Committee for the
2001 Joint International Summit on Rural
and Community Development and
is coordinator of on-line
discussion forum on rural policy at
www.ruralpolicyforum.org.
In this session, he will
talk about his work helping three Illinois
communities
develop technology master plans and the lessons learned
from the first year of the effort.
|
| Jane Leonard - 2003 Program Chair, RTC Board of Directors
Central Representative |
Jane Leonard is President of Community
Technology Advisors Corp, a consulting company that helps
communities and organizations access and use
telecommunications and information technology for community
and economic development. She represents the Midwest states on
the Rural Telecommunications Congress board of directors and
is current program chair for the 2003 national Rural
Telecommunications Conference.
Jane is a former
director of community development at the Minnesota Office of
Technology, and was assistant director of community programs
for the MN Dept of Trade and Economic Development. She was
director of strategic partnerships for MRNet and Onvoy before
starting CTAC. Jane is a nationally recognized rural
telecommunications and rural development policy advocate. She
is currently serving as Acting Director of Minnesota Rural
Partners until July 2003 and is a public member of the
Minnesota Board of Teaching. She is a past president of the
international Community Development Society. Jane has a
master's degree in communications from the University of
Minnesota.
|
| Scott M. Lindsay - President, Rural Broadband Coalition
|
Scott Lindsay is co-founder and President of
the Rural Broadband Coalition (RBC).
Lindsay brings
over ten years of experience working on congressional
campaigns, grass-roots initiatives, and on a range of federal,
state, county, and local issues. At RBC, Lindsay serves in an
advisory role for all RBC activities and is responsible for
federal legislative and regulatory issues impacting RBC
members. He is dedicated to membership outreach -- seeking to
maintain RBC’s value to its members.
Lindsay formed
RBC while serving as the director of government & member
relations for the Northwest Public Power Association (NWPPA).
In this position, he was the primary liaison between NWPPA’s
membership, in twelve Western states and Canada, and Congress
on all federal legislative and regulatory issues of interest
to its members. He also represented the association at events
as a speaker, a legislative educator, and an advocate.
He
was hired by NWPPA to set up an in-house lobbying shop from
Morgan Meguire, where he was vice president. While with this
Washington, D.C. - based consulting firm, Lindsay served as a
legislative consultant for NWPPA and other energy and
technology clients for three years. Lindsay was responsible
for Northwest power issues in addition to telecommunication,
technology, transportation, and defense matters.
Before joining Morgan Meguire, Lindsay moved from APCO
Associates where he was manager of government relations. At
APCO, Lindsay was responsible for a number of national energy
and telecommunication issues and was the Washington, D.C.
liaison for APCO Seattle. Prior to joining APCO, Lindsay came
from United States Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn’s (R-Wash.)
office where he served for two years as a legislative aide
focusing on energy, information technology, transportation,
commerce, banking, foreign affairs, veterans’ and national
security issues. Lindsay worked in Dunn’s district office for
three years handling outreach and constituent services before
moving to serve in her Washington, D.C. office. Previous to
serving as a member of Dunn’s staff, he worked at the
corporate offices of the United Parcel Service and Burlington
Northern Railroad.
While on Capitol Hill, Lindsay
served as a key coordinator on Northwest energy policy issues
and was one of the senior staff members of the Northwest
Energy Caucus. Beyond his work at RBC, he remains active in
the Washington Delegation as the past-president of the
Washington State Society.
Lindsay holds a Bachelor of
Science degree in Communications Management from the
University of Portland and is working toward a Masters in
International Relations.
|
| Jon Linkous - Executive Director, American Telemedicine
Association |
Jon Linkous is the executive director of the
American Telemedicine Association (ATA), a membership-based
organization based in Washington, DC. As ATA’s chief staff
executive since 1994, Mr. Linkous has spoken and written
extensively on policy issues, emerging applications and market
trends affecting telemedicine. Mr. Linkous has over 20 years
experience in Washington, DC as a senior executive working in
corporate and public sectors in the areas of medical and human
services, telecommunications and economic development. Mr.
Linkous received a B.S. degree in Business Administration from
Franklin University in Columbus, Ohio and a Masters of Public
Administration from the School of Government and Public
Affairs at the American University in Washington, D.C with
additional postgraduate work at the LBJ School of Public
Affairs in Austin, Texas.
|
| Howard Lowe - Director of Economic Development, SUNY
Plattsburgh |
Howard Lowe is the director of economic
development at Plattsburgh State University, Plattsburgh, New
York, where he heads the Technical Assistance Center (TAC),
which is an EDA University Center. He has held this position
since June, 2002. He is a Boston native, and of course, a
lifelong Red Sox fan.
One of TAC’s major projects is
the planning and development of the Adirondack-Champlain
Community Fiber Network, which will serve the upstate New York
counties of Champlain, Essex and Franklin. The TAC office also
provides data research, GIS, and economic development services
to the tourism and hospitality industry throughout a 16 county
region.
Economic development is Mr. Lowe’s second
career. He spent 30 years in the broadcasting industry,
starting with production and operations positions with the CBS
and PBS affiliates in Boston, and later served as a senior
manager with public television and radio stations in
Sacramento, Long Island, Omaha, and finally Plattsburgh, where
he was president of the PBS station. He is the director,
producer, and executive producer of nationally distributed
public television and radio programs.
Mr. Lowe has
also had successful experience in commercial media production
and the Internet. His development of a Sacramento video
production business was the subject of a case study on
entrepreneurism at a Wharton School of Business management
seminar. He started one of the Internet’s first community web
portals in Omaha in 1994, which received a national award from
the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Mr. Lowe is
active in local community service organizations. He is the
past president of the Board of Big Brothers – Big Sisters of
the Midlands (Omaha), and was co-chair of the 2002 United Way
of Clinton-Essex Counties Annual Campaign. He is currently
president of the Board of the Battle of Plattsburgh
Association.
Mr. Lowe holds a BA from Lake Forest
College, Lake Forest, IL, an MS from Syracuse University in
Television-Radio-Film, and an Executive MBA from the
University of Nebraska at Omaha in International Marketing.
|
| Ron Lunt - Director of Broadband Services, American
Public Power Association |
Mr. Lunt joined the American Public Power
Association in 1999 as the Director of Broadband Services for
the association. He has over 25 years of experience in the
operation and management of electric utilities. Since joining
the association, Ron has focused on helping members assess and
develop new broadband business opportunities, as well as
developing and managing an annual conference. Additionally,
Mr. Lunt provides information for members on issues related to
broadband technology, trends and regulator/legal issues.
|
| Karen Majcher - Director, High Cost Support Mechanism,
USAC |
Karen Majcher is the Director of the High Cost
Support Mechanism for the Universal Service Administrative
Company (USAC) in Washington, D.C. USAC is a private,
not-for-profit corporation that is responsible for providing
every state and territory in the United States with access to
affordable telecommunications services through the Universal
Service Fund.
As Director of the High Cost Support
Mechanism at USAC, Ms. Majcher is responsible for overseeing
the administration of the six components of the High Cost
Support Mechanism: High Cost Loop support, Local Switching
Support, Long Term Support, High Cost Model support,
Interstate Access Support, and Interstate Common Line Support.
These six components provide support to rural and non-rural
telephone companies representing over 1500 study areas in all
50 states and territories.
Prior to joining USAC, Ms.
Majcher worked in the telecommunications industry for over ten
years. She held a variety of financial positions with both
Winstar Communications Corporation and MCI Communications
Corporation. In these positions, she performed a variety
functions, including network costing, business analysis, and
financial planning. Prior to her telecommunications
experience, Ms. Majcher worked in the securities and
investments industry, where she managed the customer
investment operations of a large regional bank.
Ms. Majcher
holds a Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in Finance from
Virginia Tech and a Masters in Business Administration
(M.B.A.) from Johns Hopkins University.
|
| Rick Malinowski - Director of Information Technologies, State
of Colorado |
Rick Malinowski is the CIO for the Department
of Personnel and Administration and the Director of the
Division of Information Technologies. The division offers a
wide variety of services to other agencies in the State. They
include data center operations, telecommunications and network
services, archival and records management, software
development and the technical support of the State’s
financial, human resources, and internal billing systems. The
division has over 180 employees and an annual budget of
approximately $40 million.
Rick believes that it is
employees focused on the customer that make DoIT successful.
"A leader can shape and guide what is important in serving the
needs of the customer, but the employees must carry out the
actual service. We have great employees in the DoIT
organization always ready to do what it takes to make us
successful. They certainly deserve the credit for the great
work that we've been able to accomplish."
Rick came to
state employment in 1997 after a 25 year career in the private
sector specializing in support services. He is a 31 year
Colorado resident, having spent most of that time in the
Denver area. Rick has both his Bachelor's and Masters' degrees
from Regis University. He currently lives in Littleton with
his wife Pat.
|
| Jeng Mao - Telecommunications and Homeland Security
Specialist, NTIA |
Jeng Mao is a Telecommunications Specialist of
the National Telecommunications and Information
Administration’s (NTIA) Public Safety Division, Office of
Spectrum Management. NTIA is the primary advisor to the
Administration on all telecommunications issues and manages
the Federal government's spectrum. Mr. Mao is responsible for
analysis, review and formulation of policies concerning
Federal, State and local public safety telecommunications, in
addition to rules and regulations associated with
implementation of advanced technology solutions,
communications interoperability, national and international
standards, future spectrum needs and funding assistance to
State and local governments. Mr. Mao is also the Co-Chair of
the Federal Wireless Users’ Forum. Mr. Mao is a recipient of
The Hammer Award and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
Honor Award for his work regarding hazard warning
dissemination on telecommunications products and
services.
In addition, Mr. Mao is an Adjunct Assistant
Professor teaching at the University of Maryland University
College’s Graduate School. Mr. Mao concentrates on the
telecommunications industry and regulatory
issues.
Prior to joining NTIA, Mr. Mao worked as a
legal assistant for the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust
Division, Telecommunications Taskforce and interned at the
Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Equal Employment
Opportunity (EEO) Branch.
Mr. Mao received his J.D.
from Howard University School of Law in Washington, D.C., and
his B.S. in Accounting from the University of Central Florida
in Orlando, FL. Mr. Mao was published in the Howard Law
Journal regarding the Telecommunications Act of 1996. He is
also a member of the Federal Communications Bar Association.
Mr. Mao and his wife live in Maryland and he is an avid
motorcyclist.
|
| Alan McAdams - Professor, Johnson Graduate School of
Management, Cornell University |
Prof. McAdams was a Senior Staff Economist with
the President's Council of Economic Advisors (CEA), 1971-72,
with areas of responsibility in the Economics of
Telecommunications and other Regulated Industries; the
Economics of Science and Technology Policy; the Economics of
Antitrust Policy; and the Economics of Pollution and Pollution
Control. He has served as a consultant for various
organizations including the U.S. Department of Justice, the
Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), and NYSERNet, the New
York State Education and Research Network, Amgen Inc.,
Corning, Inc., and E&Y Consultants. He was Consultant and
Chief Economic Expert for the Department of Justice in U.S.
vs. IBM (1972-1982). He was a Member (1972-1978) of NRC/NAS
Advisory Panel for the Institute for Computer Sciences and
Technology (ICST) of the National Bureau of Standards (now
NIST). He was a member of the Administration's informal Task
Force on U.S. National Industrial Policy in 1980. He was also
Chair, Office of Technology Assessment Advisory Panel for the
study, U.S. Industrial Competitiveness: Steel, Electronics and
Automobiles (1981). He was Member- Defence Manufacturing Board
(later Defence Science Board) Task Force on HDTV (1989-1990).
He was a Visiting Fellow at the Economic Strategy Institute,
Washington, D.C. (1990).
Prof. McAdams is a member of
the AEA, the American Economic Association; is a Senior Member
IEEE, the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers;
Member, The Computer Society. He served on the IEEE-USA's
Competitiveness Committee; is immediate past Chair, Committee
on Communications and Information Policy (CCIP), past-Chair
its Subcommittees on High Performance Computing, Technology
Leadership; Member, several current Subcommittees; plus the
Computer Society’s committee on Scientific Supercomputing. In
1994 received IEEE-USA's Professional Achievement Award.
Professor McAdams chairs the CCIP Committee on
Advanced Fiber Networks (AFNs), edited the “Report from the
Workshop: This Decade’s (R)evolutionary Telecommunications
Paradigm.” (2003), developed and Chaired the Workshop: “U.S.
National Policy for Accelerating Broadband Deployment,” (2002)
jointly sponsored by the IEEE-USA and Cornell as follow-on to
the Joint IEEE-USA/Cornell University Workshop of 1999-2000:
“The Evolution of the U.S. Telecommunication Infrastructure
over the Next Decade,” which he also chaired.
At
Cornell he is 1996 and also the 1998 recipient of the S &
M Russell, "Distinguished Teaching Award," presented annually
by the Johnson School's Five -Year Reunion Class. He is member
of the Faculty Senate, served on its Executive Committee;
served two three year terms on the Faculty Advisory Board on
Information Technologies (FABIT), chaired its Off-Campus
Networking Task force.
Publications include: "The World
in 2010, The All Fiber Scenario," (2000); “The Evolution of
the U.S. Telecommunications Infrastructure over the Next
Decade,” (2000); "Connecting Business and the Environment"
(Editor, 1998); "Internet Public Goods" in Internet Economics
(MIT Press, 1997); "Pursuing the National Information
Infrastructure Dialog" IEEE-USA (Editor, 1994); "Perspectives
on Telecommunications in the NII," IEEE-USA (Editor, 1993);
"HDTV in the Information Age" (1991); "Economic Benefits and
Public Support of a National Education and Research Network"
(six monographs, 1988); "The Computer Industry," in Structure
of American Industry (1982); Key Working papers include:
"Resources that Are Inherently Not Scarce (INS) (1998);"
"Different Strokes for Different Folks" [for INS Goods]
(1997); “The Case for End-User-Ownership of Advanced Fiber
Networks (AFNs)” (2003).
|
| R. Terry McGhee - Director, Information Technology Institute,
Danville Community College |
R. Terry McGhee was hired in January 2001 to
serve as the Director of Information Technology for DCC's
Regional Center for Applied Technology & Training.
Terry's primary focus in this capacity is teaching
middle and high school students IT skills through computer
summer academies and the Growing Digital Network, and
supporting the region's IT and broadband infrastructure
efforts. Terry also currently serves as National Youth
Coordinator for the Rural Telecommunications Congress.
Prior to joining RCATT, Terry managed the IT functions
for a major PBS station in St. Louis, Missouri.
His
background also includes 12 years experience as an officer in
the U.S. Air Force. His military IT experience focused on
testing, introducing, and delivering new information
technologies and management of various telecommunications,
data processing, and information systems. For 3 years, Terry
performed the upgrades of various missile warning and
detection systems from unconditioned electrical power to solid
state conditioned power (a $240-million project in the NORAD
Cheyenne Mountain Complex of the Air Force Space Command). His
experience also includes development work on a High Altitude
Electromagnetic Pulses protection system.
Terry also
has extensive experience in network/mail/database
administration; data/voice/messaging systems management;
firewall implementation and management; and commercial
production and development of web sites and streaming video
over the Internet. In St. Louis, he also worked as a LAN
consultant and was a member of a start-up Internet Service
Provider (ISP) technology team.
He holds a bachelor of
science degree from the Citidel and a master of science degree
in Information Resource Management from the Air Force
Institute of Technology.
McGhee is a "local boy" who
was raised working in the tobacco fields and textile factories
of Southside Virginia before he moved on to join the Air Force
and get his IT training. He returned home to share his IT
experience in an educational capacity with the youths in the
area he considers "home."
McGhee is married and has a
sweet little daughter.
|
| Kate McMahon - President, Rural Telecommunications
Congress |
Kathleen McMahon has been consulting since
1994. Her consulting practice has focused on helping rural
areas plan for telecommunications and developing technology
applications for local governments. Ms. McMahon has completed
network infrastructure plans for rural counties in Colorado
that will help public agencies connect to the State’s
high-speed network. She has conducted telecommunication
assessments for rural counties in Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, and
Wisconsin. Ms. McMahon speaks frequently on strategic planning
for telecommunications and has written a number of articles on
the topic.
Ms. McMahon has a Bachelors Degree in Urban
and Regional Planning from the University of Illinois and 20
years of city planning experience. In 1998, she received a
Masters Degree in Educational Technology from George
Washington University. She is a member of the American
Institute of Certified Planners, the National
Telecommunications Officers and Advisors.
|
| Bruce Mehlman - Assistant Secretary for Technology Policy,
United States Department of Commerce |
Bruce P. Mehlman serves as Assistant Secretary
of Commerce for Technology Policy. Nominated by President Bush
on April 30, 2001, he was confirmed by the Senate on May 25,
2001. Assistant Secretary Mehlman leads the Office of
Technology Policy within the United States Department of
Commerce’s Technology Administration.
The Office of
Technology Policy (OTP) strives to maximize technology’s
contribution to U.S. economic growth, productivity, innovative
capacity and global competitiveness. OTP works closely with
leaders from industry, federal labs and universities and
state, federal and international governments on critical
policy issues impacting technology creators and users.
Prior to joining the Department of Commerce, Mehlman
served as Telecommunications Policy Counsel for Cisco Systems,
Inc. At Cisco, Mehlman worked with public policy leaders and
technologists throughout the information technology community
on issues of broadband deployment, wireless networking,
e-commerce strategies and Internet policy.
Before
joining Cisco Systems, Assistant Secretary Mehlman served as
Policy Director and General Counsel at the House Republican
Conference, the House of Representatives’ leadership office
headed by Oklahoma Congressman J.C. Watts, Jr.. At the
Conference Mehlman worked with leadership to help pass Y2K and
China trade legislation, while organizing high technology
education and outreach efforts for senior leadership and
committee staff.
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| Emil Milevoj - Program Coordinator, California State
University - Fresno |
Mr. Milevoj has been with the University
Business Center for the last two and a half years and has been
instrumental in developing and launching the AcceleratorOnline
program. AcceleratorOnline is an intensive online training
program that provides individuals with the necessary
assistance in starting and growing their own business. The
program was featured in the Aspen Institute's Best Practice
Guide for Online Microenterprise training.
After
earning his MBA, Mr. Milevoj worked as a consultant in the
shopping center industry focusing on customer service and
development of customer loyalty programs. During his career he
was also involved with numerous entrepreneurial activities
ranging from development of after school programs to marketing
golf collectibles. As part of the Fresno State delegation Mr.
Milevoj worked on a business faculty development project in
Armenia. Mr. Milevoj also teaches courses in marketing and
entrepreneurship at the Craig School of Business.
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| Don Miller - Telecommunications and Warning Systems
Manager, Washington State Emergency Management |
The Telecommunications and Warnings Systems
Manager for Washington State Emergency Management with over 30
years experience in Telecommunications Engineering, Computer
Networking and Information Systems Management. He currently
has the responsibility for the operation and maintenance of
statewide networks to include the Emergency Alert System,
Microwave networks, Multiple Radio systems, Wide Area and
Local Area Computer Networks, Telephone systems and Satellite
networks. He manages 8 other employees and an annual budget in
excess of $4 million.
Washington State is faced with
the possibility of every conceivable disaster with the
exception of a hurricane. Don has the task of maintaining
systems that warn the public in harms way, but for
coordinating communications for the responding emergency
management staff on a statewide basis. He is a member of the
Board of Trustees for the Partnership for Public Warning, a
national organization dedicated to developing a common
alerting protocol for warning systems of the future.
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| Kris Anne Monteith - Deputy Bureau Chief, Outreach and
Intergovernmental Affairs, Federal Communications
Commission |
Kris Anne Monteith is Deputy Bureau Chief,
Outreach and Intergovernmental Affairs, in the FCC’s Consumer
and Governmental Affairs Bureau (CGB). In that capacity, Ms.
Monteith oversees the Commission's interaction with local,
state and tribal governments and other federal agencies to
promote an understanding of the Commission's decisions and to
pursue coordination in areas of overlapping jurisdiction. She
also is responsible for consumer outreach aimed at informing
and educating the public about the FCC’s rules, policies,
programs and plans, and oversees development of Commission
publications, such as Consumer FACT SHEETS and
Alerts.
Ms. Monteith also serves as the Consumer and
Governmental Affairs Bureau representative to the Commission’s
Homeland Security Policy Council (HSPC). The HSPC, comprised
of senior staff from each of the Commission’s Bureaus and
Offices, works within the FCC to coordinate policy initiatives
on homeland security matters. It also focuses on sustaining
strong partnerships with state, local and tribal governments,
sister agencies, and industry and trade organizations on
issues that affect homeland security.
Prior to joining
the FCC in 1997, Ms. Monteith practiced telecommunications law
at McDermott, Will & Emery and before that at Keller &
Heckman in Washington, D.C.
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| Tom Moylan - Founder, Ashby Telecom Group |
Tom Moylan is the founder of the Ashby Telecom
Group, LLC, a consulting company that operates in the strange
world of public/private partnerships whose goal is to deploy
advanced communications infrastructure. Tom is currently the
lead consultant developing a three-county fiber optic network
in upstate New York. Upon seeing the success of the project,
he was asked to replicate the project for three counties in
northern New Hampshire. These are incredibly political
undertakings but Tom maintains that without some sort of
public sector involvement, rural areas are going to be left
with the crumbs of any private sector broadband deployment.
Quite the contrary, rural areas should be able to leapfrog
over metro areas due to the fact that we are basically working
with a blank canvas.
Tom has done work for one of the
largest municipal electric company in the nation. He was
contracted by the Jacksonville Electric Authority (JEA) to
develop their business case to simultaneously deploy a
countywide FTTH/Wireless network.
As a member of the
Center for Municipal Solutions, Tom has done a variety of
consulting for municipalities to assist them in leveraging
their role in the deployment of communications infrastructure.
Tom is also one of the founding members of the Rural Broadband
Coalition.
Tom is also somewhat of an expert in the
procurement of Federal funds. He has been able to assist his
clients in the securing of over $10 million dollars in Federal
funds from the Dept of Agriculture and the Dept of
Commerce.
Tom loves to hunt and fish, which translates
into a direct passion for rural communications infrastructure
deployment. Tom lives in a small, rural town in Massachusetts
with his wife, three kids, 12 llamas, 2 goats, chickens, 1 dog
and 1 cat.
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| Tina Nerat - Owner, NERATech |
Tina Nerat is the owner of a technology
consulting firm, NERATech. Her career in information
technology and telecommunications includes positions in
government, K-12 education, medical device manufacturing,
semiconductor fabrication, computer manufacturing, banking,
and software development. She is a board member of the Redwood
Technology Consortium, a non-profit public benefit corporation
organized to serve as an information and educational resource
on issues related to the technology industry on the California
north coast.
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| Anne B. Pope - Federal Co-Chair, Appalachian Regional
Commission |
On February 3, 2003, Anne B. Pope became the
tenth Federal Co-Chair of the Appalachian Regional Commission
(ARC). The ARC is a regional economic development agency
representing a unique partnership of federal, state, and local
government. It was established by an act of Congress in
1965.
President George W. Bush nominated Pope as
Federal Co-Chair. She received a unanimous confirmation vote
by the U.S. Senate.
A native of Kingsport, Tennessee,
Pope served in the cabinet of Governor Don Sundquist as
Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Commerce and
Insurance from November 1999 to January 2003. The Department
of Commerce and Insurance holds regulatory authority for the
areas of insurance, securities, consumer affairs, and fire
prevention, and provides oversight of Tennessee's TennCare
(Medicaid) program. The department is also responsible for
licensing 27 professions in the state, including architecture,
accounting, contracting, engineering, real estate, and
pharmacy.
From 1997 to 1999, Pope served as the
executive director of the Tennessee Film, Entertainment, and
Music Commission, which was responsible for promotion and
development of the state's film and recording industries.
Among the major motion pictures recruited by the Commission
during Pope's tenure included the Academy Award-nominated
films The Green Mile and October Sky. In 1997, Pope served as
a member of Governor Sundquist's Council on Excellence in
Higher Education, and in 1996, on his Commission on Practical
Government.
Pope's private-sector experience includes
two years as president of Proffitt's of the Tri-Cities, Inc.,
where she managed five department stores and oversaw 400
employees, and three years with the Parks-Belk Company, where
she served as vice president/chief financial officer, and
later as president/chief executive officer.
A graduate
of Vanderbilt University and the Cumberland School of Law at
Samford University, Pope is admitted to practice law in
Tennessee and the District of Columbia. Following law school,
she clerked for U.S. District Judge James D. Todd in Jackson,
Tennessee, and was an associate attorney with Webster,
Chamberlain, and Bean in Washington, D.C.
Pope is a
former member of the board of directors for the Bank of
Tennessee, the Birthplace of Country Music Alliance, and the
Watkins School of Art and Design. She is also a past member of
the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the
National Academy of Record Arts and Sciences, and the Country
Music Association. She is past president of the Arts Council
of Greater Kingsport and a former member of the board of
directors for the Johnson City, Tennessee, Chamber of
Commerce. She was a member of the Number One Committee to
promote regionalism and served as chairman of the 1997
Business Hall of Fame for Junior Achievement.
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| Dr. Dena Puskin - Director, Office for the Advancement of
Telehealth, U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services |
Dr. Puskin is the Director of the Federal
Office for the Advancement of Telehealth in the Health
Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) within the
Federal Department of Health and Human Services. Prior to her
current position, Dr. Puskin served as the Acting Director of
the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy in HRSA. She has
assumed many leadership positions within and outside of
government and currently chairs the Joint Working Group on
Telemedicine, the Federal interagency committee coordinating
the development of telemedicine initiatives across the Federal
government. Dr. Puskin spends considerable time speaking at
national forums and publishing papers and reports on
telehealth issues. In the past year, she has given over 20
speeches on telehealth.
Prior to her joining the
Department of Health and Human Services, Dr. Puskin served as
a senior analyst at the Prospective Payment Assessment
Commission, senior legislative analyst at the Blue Cross and
Blue Shield Association, Assistant Professor of Community
Medicine at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and
Dentistry, Director of Research and Evaluation at the Finger
Lakes Health Systems Agency, and Research Associate in
Biochemistry at Harvard University and Boston University.
In addition to her professional duties in the
Department, Dr. Puskin serves on the board of the Montgomery
Child Care Association and on the Advisory Councils to the
Beverly Farms Child Care Center and the Parklawn Child Care
Center.
Dr. Puskin received her Sc.D. degree in Health
Policy and Research from Johns Hopkins University, a M.S.
degree in Community Medicine from the University of Rochester,
School of Medicine and Dentistry, and B.A. and M.A. degrees in
Biology from Boston University.
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| Dr. Florine Raitano - CEO, Rural Development Specialists,
LLC |
Dr. Florine P. Raitano is CEO of Rural
Development Specialists, LLC, a consulting firm dedicated to
working with rural communities to assist them in achieving
their goals and objectives.
Dr. Raitano comes to RDS, | | |
