2023 Agenda

Full Breakfast Buffet

• 7:00 am to 8:00 am
• Main Sheraton Ballroom

Conference Registration

• 7:00 am to 4:00 pm
• Main Lobby Registration Desk

What’s Next with BEAD?

With NTIA expected to make BEAD funding allocations at the end of June, this session will discuss what’s next, as the process gets handed over to the states to implement … Read more

• 10:00 am to 10:45 am
• Moderator: Steve Coran
• Speakers: Paul Garnett, Carol Mattey
• Room 1

Beyond Gigabit Speeds: A Vendor’s Perspective

While much of the attention on broadband deployment centers around speed and bandwidth, this panel of Nokia experts will discuss ground-breaking innovations in technology that go beyond gigabit speeds. The … Read more

• 10:00 am to 10:45 am
• Moderator: David Eckard
• Speakers: Gino Dion, Dr. Dora van Veen
• Room 2

Achieving ISP Scale: The Power of Integrating Geospatial Information & Design

As organizations look to scale their organizations rapidly, many are finding that existing systems are unable to achieve the necessary scale to design and manage their ever-growing networks. In Utah, … Read more

• 10:00 am to 10:45 am
• Moderator: Ed Barrett
• Speakers: Jon Bingham, Tom Brooks, Craig Gooding, John Monday
• Room 3

Closing the Digital Divide: The Role of Community Wi-Fi in Providing Connectivity to School-Age Children

In today’s world, access to the internet is crucial for students to succeed academically. However, many students lack reliable access to the internet, leaving them at a disadvantage when it … Read more

• 10:00 am to 10:45 am
• Moderator: Candice Mayberry Storsveen
• Speakers: Robert Beiersdorf, Tanna Hanna
• Room 4

Fiber Expansion: When Fiber Gets Everywhere, It Means it Can Go Anywhere

To help close the digital equity gap, we need to take a look at home passed and homes connected as the first two critical steps. These two steps will have … Read more

• 10:00 am to 10:45 am
• Speakers: Quinn Jordan, Kevin Morgan, Josh Wehe
• Room 5

State Broadband Leads Discuss BEAD (Part 1)

With the expected release of the state BEAD allocation amounts by NTIA on June 30, this is your first opportunity to hear directly from the States on all things BEAD. … Read more

• 11:00 am to 11:45 am
• Moderator: Lori Adams
• Speakers: Rebecca Dilg, Matt Schmit, Thomas Tyler
• Room 1

Cybersecurity and BEAD

Billions of dollars will be handed out in BEAD dollars. But are you aware of the 300+ pages the NTIA has issues as guidelines for BEAD recipients? Your State will … Read more

• 11:00 am to 11:45 am
• Speakers: Michael Mercer
• Room 2

Open Access: The Art of Possible

Learn from success stories on the SUIT and other smaller OAN’s.  See how open access can work in rural and other “difficult” areas.  Listen to expert panelists discuss the drivers … Read more

• 11:00 am to 11:45 am
• Moderator: Brian Hollister
• Speakers: Jeff Engman, Ben Kley
• Room 3

Peaks and Valleys of Public Private Partnerships

Please join us for a panel discussion on the topic of Private Public Partnerships.  Here we will discuss the benefits of service provider and public agency partnerships, legal challenges, ownership, … Read more

• 11:00 am to 11:45 pm
• Speakers: Denise Barrera, Kelly Schlegel, Misti Willock
• Room 4

Bridging the Digital Divide: Utilizing Community Dialogue’s to Capitalize on BEAD Investments

In this panel, we will explore the ways in which community dialogues can be used to capitalize on BEAD investments and build a bridge in the digital divide. We will … Read more

• 11:00 am to 11:45 am
• Speakers: Ashley Coffey, Miranda Hutchison
• Room 5

BEAD funding; Who’s Building?

The Telecommunications Industry is in an economic boom like we have never seen before. Public and private funds are rolling in and millions of miles of fiber needs to be … Read more

• 2:00 pm to 2:45 pm
• Speakers: Duke Horan, Danny Reed
• Room 1

Broadband after BEAD: Planning for the Long Term

The BEAD program has been called a “once in a lifetime” and “once in a generation” opportunity for connectivity. While true it represents the largest public investment in broadband in … Read more

• 2:00 pm to 2:45 pm
• Speakers: Christopher Ali, PhD
• Room 2

A Sustainable Digital Inclusion Model for Communities

As the national conversation around broadband evolves, the dialog is being increasingly framed around three pillars of success – Access, Affordability, and Adoption. In this session, Curtis Dean with the … Read more

• 2:00 pm to 2:45 pm
• Moderator: Curtis Dean
• Speakers: Donald Michael, Patrick Mulhearn, Karisa Tashjian
• Room 3

Democratizing Network Interconnection: Why Internet Exchange Points Are Needed in Small Cities and Towns Across America

Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) are facilities where local ISPs, transport networks, content networks, cloud services, education networks, and others exchange data traffic.  They exist predominantly in major metros like New … Read more

• 2:00 pm to 2:45 pm
• Moderator: Jeff Gavlinski
• Speakers: Brent Legg, Hunter Newby
• Room 4

Next Generation Broadband Network

In a moment where broadband connectivity means much more than simply connecting people to the internet and represents a fundamental instrument of social, economic and educational development to so many … Read more

• 2:00 pm to 2:45 pm
• Speakers: Scott Jackson, Sean Robertson, Vini Santos
• Room 5

Broadband Funding: An Overview of Funding Opportunities

By June 2023, there will be a lot of buzz and excitement about the BEAD program as they announce state allocations on June 30th. The USDA ReConnect program may be … Read more

• 3:00 pm to 3:45 pm
• Moderator: Mike Lasky
• Speakers: Megan Beresford, Mike Ellison, Justin Roller
• Room 1

What’s Next with Wi-Fi 6E

Demands for fast and reliable internet at home continue to grow, and many are ready to take things to the next level with multi-gig services. As everything in the home … Read more

• 3:00 pm to 3:45 pm
• Speakers: Andrew Cuellar, Patrick Moreno, Niall Robinson
• Room 2

Building Regional Partnerships to Connect Communities

Larimer County (County) encompasses diverse communities across the front range – from rural mountain towns to dense cities nestled along the foothills. Growth in the region has emphasized the need … Read more

• 3:00 pm to 3:45 pm
• Moderator: Nathan Hoople
• Speakers: Chad Crager, Mark Pfaffinger, Brieana Reed-Harmel
• Room 3

Telehealth – Take It To the Pilot

Telehealth drives broadband, adoption and digital equity. Get behind-the-scenes insights from pilots in urban (Chattanooga, TN, and rural (Torrington, WY) American. Learn how telehealth makes subscribers loyal to your broadband … Read more

• 3:00 pm to 3:45 pm
• Speakers: Matt Larsen, Craig Settles
• Room 4

Anchor Institutions: The Key to BEAD’s Success

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act focuses on bringing high-speed broadband to unserved households and gigabit capacity to anchor institutions. These are not contradictory goals. Connecting the schools, libraries, and … Read more

• 3:00 pm to 3:45 pm
• Moderator: John Windhausen
• Speakers: Mark Colwell, Tim Miles, Andrew Moore, Denise Shorey
• Room 5

Exploring the Fabric

The BEAD “Fabric” v1 has 113,501,003 locations that are mapped to traditional census blocks and to a hexagonal grid system. The latter provides a dramatically improvised level of detail in … Read more

• 4:00 pm to 4:45 pm
• Moderator: J. Randolph Luening
• Speakers: Dianne Connery, Paul Narro
• Room 1

How mmWave wireless is a cost effective way to provide Gigabit speed internet

Introducing the different aspects of mmWave wireless (license free 60GHx and lightly licensed 70/80GHz) and how these frequencies are ideal for providing Gigabit speed internet to single family homes as … Read more

• 4:00 pm to 4:45 pm
• Speakers: Alex Doorduyn, Josh Kinabrew
• Room 2

Introducing the Front Range GigaPoP and BiSON West

Scott Baily (UCAR), Corey Bryndal (Region 10) and Nate Walowitz (Project Thor) will provide an introduction to the Front Range GigaPoP (FRGP), which has been fulfilling the high bandwidth and … Read more

• 4:00 pm to 4:45 pm
• Speakers: Scott Baily, Corey Bryndal, Nate Walowitz, Jamaica Watts
• Room 3

Seizing the Opportunity: Leveraging Federal Broadband Funds

Seizing the Opportunity: Leveraging federal broadband funds to build a future-proofed asset management platform for your state/community/private network. The US Treasury has noted “mapping and data gathering” as an eligible … Read more

• 4:00 pm to 4:45 pm
• Speakers: Andrew Eubank, Brian Mefford
• Room 4

Mobile Apps for Today’s Service Providers

Connectivity on the go is essential for supporting the demands of your customers, mobile applications increase productivity for technicians and transmits field activity back to your OSS system in seconds. … Read more

• 4:00 pm to 4:45 pm
• Speakers: Glenn Paul, Lindsay Randazzo
• Room 5

TBA

TBA

• 4:50 pm to 5:30 pm
• Room 1

TBA

TBA

• 4:50 pm to 5:30 pm
• Room 2

TBA

TBA

• 4:50 pm to 5:30 pm
• Room 3

TBA

TBA

• 4:50 pm to 5:30 pm
• Room 4

TBA

TBA

• 4:50 pm to 5:30 pm
• Room 5

Conference Registration

• 7:00 am to 2:00 pm
• Main Lobby Registration Desk

Full Breakfast Buffet

• 7:00 am to 8:00 am
• Main Sheraton Ballroom

State Broadband Leads Discuss BEAD (Part 2)

Part 2: With the expected release of the state BEAD allocation amounts by NTIA on June 30, this is your first opportunity to hear directly from the States on all … Read more

• 9:30 am to 10:15 am
• Moderator: Gigi Sohn
• Speakers: Ramón S. Hobdey-Sánchez, Andrea Pacheco, Brandy Reitter
• Room 1

Financing Your Network

This session will review various financing security mechanisms and structures that have been utilized to finance both public and private fiber networks. Utilizing municipal bond capability, when legally available as … Read more

• 9:30 am to 10:15 am
• Speakers: Laura Lewis, David Robertson
• Room 2

Public Utility Districts

TBA, including Angela from Washington State 

• 9:30 am to 10:15 am
• Room 3

Broadband Marketing Is Boring. But It Doesn’t Have to Be…

The “exceptional service,” “ultra-fast speeds” and “100% fiber network” you offer are exactly what your competition touts about themselves. So, in an increasingly crowded market, how can you stand out? … Read more

• 9:30 am to 10:15 am
• Speakers: Brandon Waybright, Jordan Wehe
• Room 4

Prep to Connect: Get your Municipality Ready for Better Broadband

One of the biggest issues we see is how unprepared cities and towns are for the incoming broadband construction. What we have done at V1 Fiber is assist these communities … Read more

• 9:30 am to 10:15 am
• Speakers: Scott Biron, Walter Rhinehart
• Room 5

Why Rural Electric Co-Ops should be Dominating the Rural Broadband Market

Rural communities have historically been an afterthought when it comes to America’s modernization efforts. Broadband internet service is essential to modern life, providing benefits such as: improved healthcare, enhanced learning … Read more

• 10:30 am to 11:15 am
• Moderator: Josh Leonard
• Speakers: Casey Lide, Ashley Poling
• Room 1

400G Transport Extension into Middle-Mile Networks

The past couple of years have seen a change in the capacity of Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) platforms going into the network. Service providers are now turning to new … Read more

• 10:30 am to 11:15 am
• Moderator: Rick Talbot
• Speakers: Tim Doiron, Vini Santos
• Room 2

So You Want To Build and Operate a New Broadband Network

There’s a lot of building of broadband network builds on the horizon. In this panel, you’ll hear from muni and local multiple operators and communities about their own broadband journeys. … Read more

• 10:30 am to 11:15 am
• Moderator: Christopher Mitchell
• Speakers: Dennis Pappas, Doug Seacat, Brad Welch
• Room 3

Diversity and Inclusion in the Broadband Realm

The broadband industry has historically lacked the diversity that is reflected in our country as a whole. The pandemic made clear that not only are minority groups less likely to … Read more

• 10:30 am to 11:15 am
• Moderator: Megan Beresford
• Speakers: Fields Jackson, Jr., Tonia Martinez, Shannan Williams-Mitchem
• Room 4

Things to Consider when Building a Community Wireless Broadband Network

The digital divide didn’t happen overnight, the pandemic just brought it into light. SmartWAVE has been building community wireless broadband networks since 2014. Throughout the years we have seen many … Read more

• 10:30 am to 11:15 am
• Speakers: Caroline Brown, Steven Capps
• Room 5

Scoring the Technical Strength of BEAD Subgrant Applications

Based on 50+ Network Evaluations Now that the State Broadband Offices know the BEAD funding they’ll receive, this operational question becomes even more important: How will the technical quality of … Read more

• 11:30 am to 12:15 pm
• Speakers: Randy Kinsey, Jay Rolls
• Room 1

Super-Charged Broadband Marketing with AI-Driven Analytics

Broadband competitors are entering the market more frequently, so a marketing team equipped with analytics intelligence is essential to deliver a message that stands out. How empowered is your marketing … Read more

• 11:30 am to 12:15 pm
• Speakers: Eddie Andrews, Ashley Brown, Todd Way
• Room 2

The Alpine Loop – Western Colorado’s Middle Mile Network

Learn about the unprecedented cooperation of local governments and their industry partners to build a fiber network connecting five regions in anticipation of serving last mile investments. Leaders from the … Read more

• 11:30 am to 12:15 pm
• Moderator: Corey Bryndal
• Speakers: Shak Powers, Jamaica Watts
• Room 3

Network Build and Operate 2.0: Technology Shaping the Delivery and Operation of Future-Proof Networks

The broadband industry is set for the largest-ever U.S. infrastructure investment. The demand for high-quality future proof networks far outpaces the speed and scale at which telecommunications networks can be … Read more

• 11:30 am to 12:15 pm
• Speakers: Doug Payauys, Sam Pratt, Barry Walton
• Room 4

A History of Strong Women Leaders: Understanding How Women Leaders Rose In Telecom and Broadband

Since the breakup of AT&T, strong women have found success within the telecommunications industry. Many of members of the first large influx of women to graduate and law schools filled … Read more

• 11:30 am to 12:15 pm
• Moderator: Heather Gold
• Speakers: Angie Kronenberg, Kimberly McKinley, Deb Socia, Gigi Sohn
• Room 5

State Broadband Leads Discuss BEAD (Part 3)

Part 3: With the expected release of the state BEAD allocation amounts by NTIA on June 30, this is your first opportunity to hear directly from the States on all … Read more

• 1:45 pm to 2:30 pm
• Moderator: Mike Jacobs
• Speakers: Tamarah Holmes, PhD, Bree Maki, Mike Waldner
• Room 1

Hiring Our Heroes: Finding the Hidden Gem to Augment Your Workforce

In this panel, you will hear from companies that train/place and employ our Veterans as they leave their military careers and seek to become reintegrated into civilian life. These individuals … Read more

• 1:45 pm to 2:30 pm
• Moderator: Nic Lindner
• Speakers: Kelley Dunne, Mark Morgan
• Room 2

Project THOR and NWCCOG Community Broadband Program Updates

An update on Project THOR, share successful partner stories/experiences and provide an overview of our new network architecture to expand our capabilities to deliver additional services. This would highlight how … Read more

• 1:45 pm to 2:30 pm
• Moderator: Nate Walowitz
• Room 3

The “Utility Lease Model” for Driving Fiber Builds

In an industry littered with “grand plans” and “exciting announcements” for fiber builds that too often stall or simply fail,. The Broadband Group has recently successfully built out fiber to … Read more

• 1:45 pm to 2:30 pm
• Moderator: Jeff Reiman
• Speakers: Jeff Bertholdi, Andrew Hurry, Patrick Thibeault
• Room 4

When is Congress Going to End the Free Ride?

Edge providers grab all the subscription revenue from our customers while pushing millions of dollars of network upgrade costs to us. When we enlarge our pipe’s capacity, Big Streamers use … Read more

• 1:45 pm to 2:30 am
• Speakers: Andy Ehrlich, Jeff England, Mark Gailey
• Room 5