A Broadband Forum for Western Massachusetts

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Jonathan S. Adelstein was sworn in as a member of the Federal Communications Commission on December 3, 2002, and sworn in for a new five-year term on December 6, 2004.

Before joining the FCC, Adelstein served for fifteen years as a staff member in the United States Senate. For the last seven years, he was a senior legislative aide to United States Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD), where he advised Senator Daschle on telecommunications, financial services, transportation and other key issues. Previously, he served as Professional Staff Member to Senate Special Committee on Aging Chairman David Pryor (D-AR), including an assignment as a special liaison to Senator Harry Reid (D-NV), and as a Legislative Assistant to Senator Donald W. Riegle, Jr. (D-MI).

Prior to his service in the Senate, Adelstein held a number of academic positions, including: Teaching Fellow in the Department of History, Harvard University; Teaching Assistant in the Department of History, Stanford University; and Communications Consultant to the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Adelstein received a B.A. with Distinction in Political Science from Stanford University, an M.A. in History from Stanford University, studied at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and is a graduate of Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. He is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance, the Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society and the Pi Sigma Alpha Political Science Honor Society.

Adelstein was born and raised in Rapid City, South Dakota. He now lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his wife Karen, son Adam and daughter Lexi.

Curtis Anderson was appointed by President George W. Bush as Deputy Administrator of the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on May 6, 2002. He works closely with RUS Administrator Hilda Legg to provide the tools and connections to grow rural America.

Curtis was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on May 5, 1958. He lived overseas in Asia, the Middle East and Europe until attending high school in Houston, Texas. After high school Curtis went on to the University of Pennsylvania to get two bachelors’ degrees – B.S in Accounting (Wharton School of Finance and Commerce) and a B.A. in Economics (Faculty of Arts and Sciences).

Curtis graduated from the University of Southern California School of Law with a J.D. in 1982, and then moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to work for the law firm of Huffman Arrington Kihle Gaberino & Dunn handling major litigation, legislative and corporate issues for various companies including gas utility, interstate gas pipeline, cellular and auditing clients. In 1988, Curtis joined the Solicitor’s office of the U.S. Department of Interior handling a multitude of issues affecting the department and the Secretary including Freedom of Information Act, Privacy Act, Merit Systems Protection Board, ethics and appropriations.

In 1990, Curtis was appointed Secretary to the Board of the Farm Credit Administration by President George H.W. Bush. He served as Secretary to the Board of both the Farm Credit Administration and the Farm Credit System Insurance Corporation until the end of 1994 at which time he went to Capitol Hill to work for the Honorable Barbara Vucanovich of Nevada until joining the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) in June of 1995.

As Chief Financial Officer, General Counsel, and Assistant Secretary-Treasurer of NASDA, Curtis was responsible for all financial, administrative, human resource, and legal issues affecting a national association representing the highest ranking agriculture official in each of the fifty states and four territories employing, at times, in excess of 3,700 people in 49 states, with a budget in excess of $25 million. He worked closely with USDA officials at the National Agricultural Statistics Service, Foreign Agricultural Service, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Agricultural Marketing Service, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service, as well as the staffs of the Commissioners, Secretaries and Directors of agriculture in each of the states and territories.

Curtis lives in Falls Church, Virginia, with his wife, Margaret Cummisky, their two boys, Daniel, age 12, and Julian, age 10, his mother-in-law Yoshie Cummisky, and their two Westies.

For the last two decades Donna Baron has worked with diverse groups in higher education and state government to coordinate and implement a variety of collaborative technology solutions and agreements.  As Director of Information Technology for Five Colleges, Incorporated she recently completed directing the design and build of a 53-mile optical fiber network that connects the schools to each other and a carrier-neutral facility in Springfield, Massachusetts.  She is currently working with towns within the network’s footprint to connect them to this new infrastructure.  Donna meets regularly with numerous Five College committees, including the Information Technology Governing Board, Chief Information Officers, Networking Committee and Emergency Preparedness Committee.  She is on the steering committee of Pioneer Valley Connect, a regional economic development effort with the goal of creating an advanced telecommunications landscape throughout the Pioneer Valley, and serves on the Eastern Advisory Council for the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education.  Donna holds a B.A. in geography from Clark University and a M.S. in geography and women's studies from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

George “Chip” Brodeur currently serves as the Chief Technology Officer for both Berkshire Connect, Inc. and Pioneer Valley Connect.  Mr. Brodeur was instrumental in developing the “Western Massachusetts Broadband Availability Database”, as well as the “Underserved Communities Project” and “Connecting Western Massachusetts.”   His work on these Connects’ initiatives included identifying appropriate technologies, designing a model sub-regional fiber-wireless hybrid network, and determining the various costs associated with bringing broadband services to unserved communities.  The current state broadband legislation reflects many of the elements found in these initiatives.  Mr. Brodeur continues to serve as the technical resource for the Connects Beta Test Program, another Connects’ initiative to install wireless broadband services in three unserved Western Massachusetts communities.

Mr. Brodeur’s technical expertise is a result of 39 years of experience in the telecommunications industry.  He is the President of BNC, a network consulting company based in Longmeadow, MA that works with Western Massachusetts colleges and municipalities to design and implement local fiber networks.

Mr. Brodeur holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Telecommunications Management & Applied Computing from the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Maureen Connolly serves as the Development Director for the Economic Development Council of Northern Vermont, Inc., a private not-for-profit that is a U.S. Department of Commerce Economic Development Administration (EDA) Designated District. Maureen is the Project Manager for North-Link, a 400-mile fiber optic network connecting two countries, three states and eight of the most rural counties in the United States. In her role as Development Director, Ms. Connolly developed the first cross-border international partnership in the history of the United States and Canada for Quebec and the six northern counties of Vermont.

In addition to her development and over site of these innovative international projects Ms. Connolly continues to provided financial and construction project management services in compliance with Federal, State and Local regulations for multi-jurisdictional projects that encompass multiple counties, countries and states. Ms. Connolly provides project management for a project portfolio in excess of twenty million dollars, to enhance economic development in the State of Vermont's most economically distressed areas. These projects include water/sewer installations, industrial park development, state-of-the art multi tenant facilities, electrical sub-station upgrades, telecommunications infrastructure and international trade development. Ms. Connolly has served on the RTC Board since 2006.

Development Director
Economic Development Council of Northern Vermont
2 North Main St. Suite 301
St. Albans, VT 05478
Office: 802-524-4546
Fax: 802-527-1081
Email: maureen@edcnv.org

Ben Dobbs is the Policy Analyst focusing on wireless and broadband affairs in Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development. There, Ben supports Secretary Daniel O’Connell and Assistant Secretary Stan McGee with respect to shaping and advancing policy initiatives and coordinates various agencies and departments within the Commonwealth on wireless and broadband issues. 

The Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development is the area of Governor Patrick’s administration that is responsible for working to insure that Massachusetts retains and attracts the best and brightest that the Commonwealth has to offer, and that the state is competitive for many years to come.

Immediately prior to joining the Patrick Administration, Ben served as the Research Director of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies in the Massachusetts legislature under House Chairman Daniel E. Bosley and Senate Chairman Jack Hart. 

Policy Advisor
Massachusetts Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development
One Ashburton Place, Room 2101
Boston, MA 02108
benedict.dobbs@state.ma.us
Office: 617-788-3664
Fax: 617- 788-3605

Donald Dubendorf is an attorney in private practice in Williamstown, Mass.
His practice concentrates in corporate, business and land use law. His clients include: colleges, hospitals, financial institutions, and entrepreneurs.

Dubendorf currently serves in leadership positions for key public-private partnerships supporting innovative economic, communications and educational initiatives. These include:

– To date, Innovation Institute investments have leveraged more than $240 million in federal and private research awards for Massachusetts academic research centers, achieving better than a 10-to-1 return on these investments.
– If the Legislature enacts the Governor’s proposed Massachusetts Broadband Incentive Fund, the Innovation Institute would become the home of the Massachusetts Broadband Institute, which would manage the new fund.

Dubendorf has also served in numerous leadership roles for corporate and community institutions. These include:

Dubendorf served on the faculties of Williams College and Vermont Law School and has lectured widely on land use matters. A 1975 graduate of Williams College, Dubendorf received his J.D. degree from Boston University in 1978. 

Dubendorf can be reached at: 125 Park Street, Suite 4, P.O. Box 546, Williamstown, MA 01267, (413) 458-0136, and by e-mail at ddubendorf@dubendorf-law.com.

Linda Dunlavy is the Executive Director of the Franklin Regional Council of Governments (FRCOG). Linda has worked for the FRCOG for the past 15 years and has led the organization as Executive Director for the last 9 years. Before becoming Executive Director, Linda was the Transportation Planning Program Manager. Through her work Linda has served on a variety of regional and statewide committees. Since it’s inception in 2003, Linda has been Co-Chair of Pioneer Valley Connect, an effort to bring broadband to the three western Massachusetts counties that are known as the Pioneer Valley. She holds a Master’s degree in Regional Planning from the University of Massachusetts and a Bachelor’s degree from Boston College. Before working for the FRCOG, Linda worked in the mental health field in Boston, managing programs that support disadvantaged individuals in obtaining job and life skills. Linda currently serves on the Town of Hadley School Committee and on the WGBY Board of Tribunes. Linda lives in Hadley, MA with her husband Jim and son Cole.

Sharon E. Gillett was appointed by Governor Deval Patrick in the spring of 2007 to head the Department of Telecommunications and Cable.  Prior to serving in state government, Commissioner Gillett was a Principal Research Associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) where she chaired the Broadband Working Group of MIT’s Communications Futures Program and taught courses on telecommunications and Internet policy. She also conducted research on municipal broadband and its economic impact and served on Boston Mayor Thomas Menino’s Wireless Broadband Task Force.  Commissioner Gillett received her MBA and MS in Technology and Policy from MIT and her AB in Physics from Harvard University. 

Commissioner Gillett is responsible for overseeing state regulatory functions pertaining to telecommunications and cable services, including promoting competition and consumer protection and responding to carrier and consumer inquiries and complaints.  She also advises the state on broadband policy.

Christian Jacqz has been Director of the Office of Geographic and Environmental Information in the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EOEEA) since 1992. This program, commonly known as MassGIS, serves as a geographic information system (GIS) resource for EOEEA, for other state agencies, for regional and local governments and for the private sector. Christian is currently involved in a variety of projects relating to climate change and alternative energy. Past projects include statewide orthophoto imagery (as seen in Google), a statewide addressing update for 911, the completion of build-out analyses for all Massachusetts communities, development of a protected open space inventory and supporting standardized municipal parcel mapping. Christian has also been instrumental in developing open-source based Internet mapping services and a strong web presence for MassGIS. During his tenure the program has been recognized for innovation and excellence by the Urban and Regional Information Systems Associaion, the Geographic Information Technology Association, the EPA and the Environmental Systems Research Institute.

Senator John Kerry has served the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in both state and federal office for over 35 years. He is a Vietnam veteran and a graduate of Boston College Law School. A position as the First Assistant District Attorney for Middlesex County marked the beginning of his public service in 1976 and he was elected Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth in 1982.

Currently in his fourth-term in the US Senate, John Kerry is the chairman of the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship and a member of the Senate Committee on Science, Commerce and Transportation. Throughout his tenure as a public servant, Senator Kerry has worked to develop and initiate policies that support technological innovation and benefit US business and economic growth. He has recently advocated for policy reforms that will improve data collection on broadband penetration, expand consumer choices for connectivity and ultimately help achieve the goal of ubiquitous broadband. He has lead efforts in Congress to legislate broadband policies that spur competition and expand and enhance digital access for all Americans.

Robert M. McDowell was nominated by President George W. Bush to a seat on the Federal Communications Commission on February 6, 2006, for the remainder of the term expiring June 30, 2009. He was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate on May 26, 2006, and sworn in as FCC Commissioner on June 1, 2006.

Commissioner McDowell brings to the FCC approximately sixteen years of private sector experience in the communications industry. Immediately prior to joining the FCC, Commissioner McDowell was senior vice president and assistant general counsel for COMPTEL, an association representing competitive facilities-based telecommunications service providers, emerging VoIP providers, integrated communications companies, and their supplier partners, where he had responsibilities involving advocacy efforts before Congress, the White House and executive agencies. He has served on the North American Numbering Council (NANC) and on the board of directors of North American Numbering Plan Billing and Collection, Inc. (NBANC).

Prior to joining COMPTEL in February 1999, McDowell served as the executive vice president and general counsel of America's Carriers Telecommunications Association (ACTA), which merged with COMPTEL at that time.

McDowell was graduated cum laude from Duke University in 1985. After serving as chief legislative aide to a member of the Virginia House of Delegates, he attended the Marshall-Wythe School of Law at the College of William and Mary. Upon his graduation from law school, McDowell joined the Washington, D.C., office of Arter & Hadden, a national law firm based in Cleveland.

Extensively involved in civic and political affairs, McDowell has served on numerous boards and commissions. He was appointed by Virginia Governor George Allen to the Governor's Advisory Board for a Safe and Drug-Free Virginia, and to the Virginia Board for Contractors, to which he was reappointed by Governor Jim Gilmore. A veteran of several presidential campaigns, he was counsel to the Bush-Cheney Florida Recount Team in 2000.  His work during the 1992 presidential campaign is cited in the Almanac of American Politics, 1994.  Among his other endeavors, McDowell has twice been a candidate for the Virginia General Assembly.  He currently serves as Chairman of the Board of the McLean Project for the Arts.

McDowell is admitted to practice law before the courts of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia, First, Fourth and Fifth Circuits and the U.S. Supreme Court. He resides in Fairfax County, Va., on the farm where he grew up, with his wife Jennifer and their three children.

Throughout his public career, Tim Murray has taken on the tough challenges of economic development, improving public education, protecting the environment and making government more responsive to every citizen.

Prior to his election as Lieutenant Governor, Tim was a three-term mayor of Worcester, the state’s second largest city. Under Tim’s leadership, Worcester experienced unprecedented progress, with $1 billion of new economic development projects that are helping to transform an older industrial city into one that is well-positioned to lead and grow in the new economy.

As mayor, Tim chaired the Worcester School Committee and helped make that city’s schools among the best urban school systems in the nation. Tim built community partnerships to lower drop-out rates, launch school-based health initiatives and expand after-school programs to support working families.

Tim is a Worcester native and the oldest of five children. His father taught high school and his mother is a registered nurse. Tim attended Worcester public schools and went on to St. John’s High School in Shrewsbury. Tim earned his bachelor’s degree at Fordham University, and then put himself through law school attending classes at night while working days as a substitute school teacher and an advocate for homeless families. Tim earned his law degree from the Western New England College School of Law in Springfield and became a partner in the Worcester firm of Tattan, Leonard and Murray.

Tim was first elected to the Worcester City Council in 1997 and became mayor in 2001. Prior to his elective service, Tim was active for many years in a wide range of community initiatives. He served on the boards of the Worcester Public Library, Worcester Historical Museum, Worcester Community Action Council, the Worcester Working Coalition for Latino Students and Preservation Worcester.

Tim is married to Tammy (Sullivan), an occupational therapist who works with school-age children. Tim and Tammy live in Worcester with their daughters, Helen and Katerine.

Congressman John W. Olver has represented the 1st Congressional District spanning Berkshire, Hampden, Hampshire, Franklin, Worcester and Middlesex Counties -- since June 1991. Congressman Olver is currently the only member from the Massachusetts delegation serving on the House Appropriations Committee.

In 2007, his colleagues named him the Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and related agencies. Since his appointment, Olver's chief objective has been to obtain funding for economic development projects at home that spur new business opportunities in central and western Massachusetts. Protecting the environment, increasing worker rights and benefits, expanding access to affordable health care, and improving education likewise are top priorities.

Congressman Olver recently Secured more than $4 million for the design and construction of a regional telecommunications system traversing Interstate 91 and commissioned the Rural Broadband Corridor Study looking at how to bring broadband communications to the rural areas of our country.

Olver's public service career began in 1969 in the Massachusetts State House representing a section of Hampshire County. Beginning in 1973, he served 18 years in the Massachusetts State Senate representing portions of Franklin, Hampshire, Hampden, and Berkshire Counties. On June 25, 1991, Olver was sworn in to the U.S. House of Representatives to complete the term of the late Rep. Silvio O. Conte.

Prior to his tenure in the Massachusetts State House, Olver was a chemistry professor at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Olver earned his B.A. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, his M.A. from Tufts University, and his Ph.D. in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

In addition to 30 years experience as a teacher and administrator in the Massachusetts community college system, Dr. Robert L. Pura is also a proud graduate of a community college.  As the first in his family to attend college and the child of an immigrant, he understands what a community college education can mean to students.  As a teacher, he also understands the challenges that the community college student brings to the classrooms and support systems.  “Maintaining high standards and a commitment to open access is the noblest mission in the history of higher education.”  His passion for the community college mission was enhanced by his academic pursuits at The University of Texas at Austin where he earned his Ph.D.  He has made presentations for the American Association of Community Colleges, the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development, the League for Innovation in Community Colleges, and Harvard University.  Dr. Pura has been a visiting scholar at the Community College Leadership Program at The University of Texas at Austin and served as chair of the Massachusetts Community College Presidents’ Council.

Ben Scott is Policy Director at Free Press where he oversees all governmental and legislative affairs for the largest public interest organization in the country working exclusively on communications policy issues. He has testified in front of the United States Senate and the House of Representatives on a number of media and telecommunications-related issues. Before joining Free Press, he worked as a legislative aide handling telecommunications policy for then-Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). He has appeared as commentator on MSNBC, BBC, PBS, C-SPAN, NPR, Democracy Now!, and local stations across the country. He is the author of several scholarly articles on American journalism history and the politics of media regulation, and co-editor of Our Unfree Press and The Future of Media. He received his B.S. in communication and history from Northwestern University, an MA in history from the University of Sussex, and he is in the final stages of his doctoral degree in communications from the University of Illinois.

Ben Scott
Policy Director
Free Press :: www.freepress.net
bscott@freepress.net
202-265-1490, x23

 

 

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