This special Broadband Breakfast Live Online events will place on Wednesday at a SPECIAL UNIQUE TIME OF 10 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. MT. (Normally at 12 Noon ET.) Watch the event on Broadband Breakfast, or REGISTER HERE to join the conversation.

Wednesday, August 9, 2023 – Mountain Connect

The 2023 Mountain Connect conference is just about to kick off, where industry leaders, government officials and tech companies coming together to discuss the future of broadband. This year, the spotlight is on infrastructure integration, collaboration, and technology innovation. Join our weekly Broadband Breakfast Live Online, live from Denver, Colorado, where Broadband Breakfast Editor and Publisher Drew Clark engages in an informal conversation with several informed observers participating in the annual event.

Panelists

• David Don, Senior Vice President for Public Policy, Comcast Corporation
• Dr. Christopher Ali, Pioneers Chair in Telecommunications and Professor of Telecommunications, Penn State University
• Angela Bennink, General Manager, General Manager for Kitsap Public Utility District; Chair, American Association of Public Broadband
• Pierce Verchick, Head of Broadband Lending, Live Oak Bank
• Steve Schwerbel, State Advocacy Manager, Wireless Internet Service Providers Association
• Drew Clark (moderator), Editor and Publisher, Broadband Breakfast

David Don serves as Senior Vice President for Public Policy at Comcast Corporation. He is responsible for developing and implementing the company’s strategies before federal and state governments. David has worked extensively on public policy, infrastructure, and spectrum allocation for over 25 years, and he often represents Comcast in public fora examining the most relevant issues of the day.

Dr. Christopher Ali is the Pioneers Chair in Telecommunications and Professor of Telecommunications at the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications at Penn State University. He holds a PhD in Communication Studies from the Annenberg School for Communications at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of the book Farm Fresh Broadband: The Politics of Rural Connectivity (MIT Press, 2021), and has testified before the Senate Commerce Committee regarding rural broadband funding programs.

Angela Bennink is the general manager for Kitsap Public Utility District after serving as the telecommunications director. For 11 years, she concentrated on expanding broadband access in Washington State with Northwest Open Access Network before transitioning to Kitsap PUD to focus on bridging the digital divide by bringing high speed broadband to unserved areas of Kitsap County. Seeing a need for greater national advocacy for public entities trying to serve their communities, last spring Bennink joined a group of public broadband advocates to form the American Association for Public Broadband, and for which she serves as the chair.

Pierce Verchick has worked at Live Oak Bank since 2015 holding roles in its servicing division, credit underwriting department, and small business lending division. He is currently the head of Broadband Lending at Live Oak Bank and has been leading this team for 4 years; the lending team is responsible for providing senior debt solutions to companies in the broadband, internet service and data infrastructure industries. The broadband lending team focuses specifically on senior debt facilities such as conventional term debt as well as SBA 7a loans for project finance and M&A.

Steve Schwerbel is the State Advocacy Manager for WISPA – Broadband Without Boundaries. In this capacity, he manages relationships between WISPA members and state broadband offices and legislatures across all 50 states, advocating for technology-neutral rules for broadband expansion. Before joining WISPA, Steve spent 7 years as a staffer focused on broadband in the Wisconsin state legislature, where his work included staffing the chairs of the Assembly Committee on Science and Technology and the Senate Utilities Committee.

Drew Clark is CEO of Breakfast Media LLC. He has led the Broadband Breakfast community since 2008. An early proponent of better broadband, better lives, he initially founded the Broadband Census crowdsourcing campaign for broadband data. As Editor and Publisher, Clark presides over the leading media company advocating for higher-capacity internet everywhere through topical, timely and intelligent coverage. Clark also served as head of the Partnership for a Connected Illinois, a state broadband initiative.

As with all Broadband Breakfast Live Online events, the FREE webcasts will take place at 12 Noon ET on Wednesday.

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See a complete list of upcoming and past Broadband Breakfast Live Online events.