Austin Renaissance Hotel - Austin, Texas - April 14 -16, 2015
Connecting Communities Across America --- Moving Rural America to Prosper through Broadband ---
2015 RTC Program Agenda and Session Content
Tuesday, April 14
3:00pm – 4:00pm: Looking Forward by Looking Back: Digital Inclusion from 1980 to Today From the first community technology center (1980), the first community network (1986), to the first open gov/data initiative (1989), this presentation explores the history, themes, and future of our work. Moderator:Jane Patterson - RTC President; President, The View Forward Speaker: Anne Neville – Director, NTIA State Broadband Initiative, U.S. Department of Commerce
4:10pm – 5:00pm: Broadband Is Like Oxygen to Rural America – What Technology and Companies Will Provide It? Will
Gigabit networks or wireless services best meet the needs of the
nation’s rural communities? What options are rural communities missing
without good-quality broadband? And when commercial providers are in
short supply, how do non-profits, cooperatives and municipal broadband
providers help fill the void? Hear the perspectives of a range of rural
Internet providers. Moderator:Drew Clark - RTC Board Member; BroadbandBreakfast.com; Of Counsel, Kirton McConkie Speakers: Luis Reyes – CEO/GM, Kit Carson Electric Will Aycock – CEO, Greenlight, Wilson, North Carolina Ron Walters - CEO, PANGAEA, Tryon, North Carolina Bill Shilito – President, North Carolina Wireless, LLC
9:00am – 9:50am: Lessons From Successful Broadband Deployments Join
this session to learn and discuss the state of rural broadband access.
Hear actionable details about the innovative projects that are
providing solutions in rural areas to create positive economic and
community outcomes from broadband deployment. Moderator:Jason Whittet – RTC Board Member; Program Officer, IDC Research Speakers: Tony Wilhelm – Vice President, Affiniti Mark Dzwonczyk – CEO, Nicholville Telephone David Salway – Executive Director, NY State Broadband Program Luis Reyes – CEO/GM, Kit Carson Electric
10:00am – 10:50am: Broadband and the Farm Broadband
technology is an essential tool to those who are linked to the land –
modern farmers and ranchers, landowners, builders, and loggers that
feed and supply the nation. Their efforts and success drive a
significant component of the USA and world economy. The panel will
provide a commercial perspective of how broadband is needed on the
farm, a state perspective on its importance to the state economy, and
discussion on how fiber and wireless networks are essential
infrastructure to rural America. Moderator:Keith Montgomery – RTC Vice President; CFO Declaration Networks Group, Inc. Speakers: Mark Lewellen – Manager, Spectrum Advocacy, John Deere & Company Phillip K. Brown – Director, State/Federal Policy and Broadband Planning, Connected Nation Dan Hunter – Assistant Commissioner for Water and Rural Affairs, Texas Department of Agriculture
2:30pm – 3:20pm: The Internet of Things – Its Impact on Rural Communities Your
refrigerator can order groceries when you need them, your house can
call the plumber when there's a leak, share a diabetic's blood sugar
values with his doctor, and turn on the irrigation system when the soil
is too dry or wait if rain is forecast. Along
with medical devices and the fitness industry, these are examples of
the Internet of Things that will add to our lives and integrate
measurement, analysis, and even social media. Ubiquitous broadband with
low latency is critical to make it happen. Moderator:Jane Patterson – RTC President; President, The View Forward Speaker: Mark Johnson – CTO and VP of Data Architecture, MCNC John Chowdhury – Director of Utility Practice, Fujitsu Network Communications, Inc.
3:30pm – 4:20pm: Monitoring Rural America’s Health Learn
from projects that have outstanding outcomes in rural and statewide
telehealth networks. There will be time to ask questions and have an
interactive discussion about telehealth topics important to you. Hear
about how current laws and regulations have impacts at state levels
with privacy and security. Moderator:Galen Updike – RTC Past President; Mesa, Arizona Speakers: David Kirby – Project Director, NC TeleHealth Network Michael Keeling - Partner, Keeling Law Offices PC & Lobbyist for ATIC / Arizona TeleHealth
5:10pm – 6:10pm: Digital Education and its Impact at the Community Level Relating
adequate broadband to assure quality of life, diverse Community Anchor
Institutions (libraries, schools, colleges, economic agencies, public
safety, and health organizations) are challenged with finding the most
effective practices for training to outcomes. Solutions are evolving
across multiple platforms for innovation from mobile devices to
Gigacities, across sectors from health to digital entrepreneurship, and
across diverse demographics, particularly the 1:2 Americans who are
low income and living in poverty. Moderator:Frank Odasz – RTC Secretary; President, Lone Eagle Consulting Speakers: John Windhausen – Executive Director, Schools, Health and Libraries Broadband Coalition (SHLB) Myra Best – Executive Director, DigiLEARN Gene Crick - Executive Director, Metropolitan Austin Interactive Network (MAIN)
9:40am – 10:30am: Plows to Tractors to Computers to Prosperity The ability to drive the economy and enable business from anywhere can happen no matter where you live. The digital divide is not only about access, but more about having the resources and awareness to effectively utilize broadband and its ever-changing solutions to business. The session will highlight current research with examples across the nation to get a look into how rural homes and businesses are utilizing broadband, and offer solutions to drive economic improvements where you live. Moderator:Eric Ogle – RTC Treasurer, Baker Center for Public Policy, University of Tennessee Speakers: Michael Curri – President, Strategic Networks Group, Inc. Monica Lynn Babine - Senior Associate, Program for Digital Initiatives, Washington State University Maria Alvarez-Stroud – Director, Broadband and eCommerce Education Center, University of Wisconsin
10:40am – 11:30am: Who Will Gigafy Our Rural Infrastructure? This
session will focus on how cross-sector partnerships provides
broadband to rural communities. This will be an opportunity to interact
with a rural electric cooperative moving towards providing their
customers broadband (North Carolina), and with Sunset Digital
Communications, the oldest rural Fiber-to-the-Premises company in the
USA , partnerships with Powell Electric (Tennessee and Virginia) and a
major health initiative (the Northeast Texas Medical and Educational
Fiber Optic Network). Moderator: Joel Mulder – RTC Board Member; Senior Director of Business Development, G4S Technology Speakers: Marshall Cherry – COO, Roanoke Electric Cooperative Mickey Slimp – Executive Director, Northeast Texas Consortium of Colleges and Universities, UT Health Northeast Paul Elswick – Owner, President & CEO, Sunset Digital Communications, Inc.
This page is the agenda and session content for the RTC portion of the Summit. For full Summit information, click HERE for the Broadband Communities Summit website.