Matt Smith - Mountain Connect

Matt Smith serves as Chief Network Architect for Skyline Technology Solutions where he assists in the overall strategic direction of the company through providing insights on technology trends and innovations.

Matt has over 22 years in complex network design, implementation, and management across enterprise and carrier environments. Prior to starting at Skyline, Matt worked for several large IT integrators supporting primarily transportation, education, federal, and commercial customers. His early career involved critical support for government and military networks, demonstrating broad skills from fiber optics to VoIP and security services. Matt served alongside Skyline’s founder, Brian Holsonbake, and others as a part of the engineering team that designed and implemented the State of Maryland’s fiber optic backbone network, networkMaryland™. Matt’s passion for the technology that provides critical capabilities to his community has led him to remain part of the networkMaryland™ program throughout his career and he currently serves as the Chief Architect of the program.

His passion for governmental communications infrastructure has also led him to help architect and build several county and municipal networks, including the highly successful Carroll County Public Network supporting his own home county. He has driven significant network expansions, including 10x service capacity increases and consolidation of 24 Metropolitan Area Networks into 4 regional segments. His technical leadership includes integrating cloud services (AWS, Azure), SD-WAN, DDoS mitigation, and optical network deployments.

Matt earned his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science Information Systems from Frostburg State University in his home state of Maryland.

All Sessions by Matt Smith

August 12, 2026 All-Conference Sessions

8:00 am - 9:00 am

General Session Ballroom

The Goldilocks Build: Getting Infrastructure “Just Right”

Part 1: The Goldilocks Build: Getting Infrastructure “Just Right”

As broadband investments accelerate nationwide, the traditional “one-size-fits-all” deployment model is giving way to a more pragmatic, multi-purpose build strategy. This approach—grounded in a “Goldilocks” philosophy—focuses on designing infrastructure that is not overbuilt, not underbuilt, but right-sized to serve multiple community needs at once. By aligning fiber (and wireless) deployment with transportation corridors, vertical assets, CAIs, smart infrastructure, and resilience planning, states and providers can stretch every dollar further while delivering greater long-term value. Multi-purpose builds unlock efficiencies in permitting, construction, and maintenance, while also enabling use cases beyond connectivity, including public safety, grid modernization, and environmental monitoring.

Part 2 - Panel Discussion: Making It Real: Implementing Multi-Purpose Builds Across Sectors

This session will explore how leaders are operationalizing this shift, moving from single-purpose broadband projects to integrated infrastructure strategies that maximize return on investment and community impact. The discussion will highlight real-world examples, policy considerations, and funding alignment opportunities that make multi-purpose builds viable at scale. A follow-on panel featuring cross-sector experts will dive deeper into implementation challenges, partnership models, and lessons learned from the field & providing attendees with actionable insights to bring this & just right; approach to their own programs.