Speakers
April 27, 2021
April 28, 2021
Will Aycock
Greenlight General Manager
Wilson, North Carolina
Will Aycock is responsible for the management and oversight of all Greenlight and information technology operations. He also supervises the management of the Unified Communications Center. He has worked with the City of Wilson since 2001 and has been part of the Greenlight team since launch in 2008. Aycock previously served as operations manager, assistant director of ITS, GIS manager and GIS coordinator for the City of Wilson. He is a graduate of both Appalachian State and East Carolina Universities and holds Municipal Administration and Government Chief Information Officer certificates from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Daniel Linville
State Delegate
West Virginia
Daniel Linville (R - Cabell, 16)
Assistant Majority Whip
Biography: Information Technology Director
Education: Bachelor’s Degree Marshall University
Affiliations: Farm Bureau; Cabell-Wayne Beekeepers Association; Milton, WV Rotary Club
Legislative Service: Appointed to the House August 1, 2018; Elected to the House 2018-2020
Legislative Positions Held: Vice Chair, Committee on Technology and Infrastructure, 84th Legislature
Other Public Service: Ex-Officio Member, West Virginia Broadband Enhancement Council; Board of Directors Keith Albee Theater; Chair, Employee Suggestion Award Board, 84th Legislature
Robert Plymale
State Senator
West Virginia
Robert H. Plymale (D - Wayne, 05)
Education Marshall University
Affiliations Co-Chair, Keith Albee Performing Arts, Inc; member, Huntington Regional Chamber of Commerce; Western Gate Land Development Corporation; Southern Regional Education Board (SREB) Executive Committee and Advisory Council; Member, Board of Control, SREB; Treasurer, SREB; Education Commission of the States; NCSL Blue Ribbon Commission on Higher Education Finance; NCSL National Task Force on “No Child Left Behind”; NCSL Blue Ribbon Commission for Higher Education; Co-Chair, NCSL Federal Education Policy Task Force; Vice Chair of General Officers, NCSL; Early Learning Fellow, NCSL; WV Broadband Enhancement Council 2018; FCC, Intergovernmental Advisory Committee Member, 2020-2022
Legislative Service Elected to the Senate 1992-2020
Legislative Positions Held Chair, Committee on Education, 76th, 77th, 78th, 79th, 80th and 81st Legislatures; Vice Chair, Committees on Health and Human Resources, 75th Legislature; Chair, Select Committee on PEIA, 73rd Legislature; Member, Infrastructure & Jobs Development Council, 73rd Legislature; Chair, Committee on Pensions, 72nd, 73rd, 74th and 75th Legislatures; Co-Chair, Forest Management Review Commission, 71st and 72nd Legislatures; Chair, Committee on Transportation, 71st Legislature
Rena Brewer
Principal Investigator
Southeastern Telehealth Resource Center
Read MoreRena Brewer
Principal Investigator
Southeastern Telehealth Resource Center
Rena Brewer, RN, MA is the Principal Investigator for the HRSA funded Southeastern Telehealth Resource Center and is the CEO of Global / Georgia Partnership for Telehealth, Inc. (GPT), a charitable, nonprofit corporation dedicated to the advancement of telehealth thru the establishment and on-going support of telehealth programs. GPT’s robust telehealth network has over 1,500 end points of providers and receivers of clinical services in 10 US states & several international projects. Partners include rural & urban health systems, healthcare providers, SNFs, schools, jails, public health departments, orphanages & a variety of clinics.
Since 2010, GPT has served as the Southeastern Telehealth Resource Center providing expert telehealth technical assistance and training to various telehealth stakeholders in AL, FL, GA & SC. SETRC is part of the National Consortium of Telehealth Resource Centers.
Rena has 15 years of building and implementing telehealth programs in a variety of clinical settings. She is a graduate of Darton College of Nursing and LaGrange College with degrees in Nursing and a Masters in Organizational Leadership.
Alex Kelley
Senior Broadband Consultant
Center On Rural Innovation
Alex leads broadband work for the Center on Rural Innovation (CORI) and RISI. He currently is working with eight counties and communities around the country, from the Northeast to Arkansas, to develop feasible and fundable fiber networks that incorporate strategies to address affordability, digital literacy, and digital equity along the way. Previously, Alex project-managed workforce development and GIS/geospatial mapping work for CORI, and researched automation and remote employment trends.
Before joining CORI, Alex’s career had been split between professional services in Silicon Valley and rural organizing and political strategy.
He holds a BA from Wesleyan University.
Carole Monroe
Chief Executive Officer
ValleyNet
Carole Monroe is the CEO of ValleyNet, the operations company of ECFiber. Before joining ValleyNet in June of 2015, Carole worked as a Broadband Consultant, with the City of Keene, NH on a Gigabit City vision and as the Executive Director of New Hampshire FastRoads, a regional fiber-optic network in western New Hampshire delivering gigabit broadband to community anchor institutions, businesses, and residents.
Bridget Quinn
Chief Executive Officer
Hartford Public Library
Bridget E. Quinn is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Hartford Public Library. Prior to joining HPL in 2016, Ms. Quinn served as the Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer and Interim President/CEO of the Queens Library in New York City. She was also the Director of the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library system and has held leadership positions in libraries in
New York, Iowa and Connecticut.
Ms. Quinn earned her BA from the State University of New York at Binghamton. She earned her MLS and MBA from St. John’s University. She is a member of the academic honor societies Beta Gamma Sigma, Sigma Iota Epsilon, and Beta Phi Mu. She is a former member and Chair of the New York State Regents Advisory Council on Libraries. She currently serves on the Connecticut State Library’s Advisory Council for Library Planning and Development. She is a member of the American Library Association, Black Caucus of the American Library Association, Public Library Association, Connecticut Library Association and New York Library Association. She is a Corporator for Hartford Hospital and a member of the Board of the Mark Twain House and Museum.
Kathryn de Wit
Project Director, Broadband Access Initiative
The Pew Charitable Trusts
Read MoreKathryn de Wit
Project Director, Broadband Access Initiative
The Pew Charitable Trusts
Kathryn de Wit directs Pew’s broadband access initiative, which examines efforts to connect millions of Americans to high-speed, reliable internet. In addition to assessing how states are approaching this challenge, de Wit’s work also includes addressing research gaps and bringing together stakeholders for data-driven discussions about how to close the connectivity gap.
Before joining Pew, de Wit was an associate with Booz Allen Hamilton, where she focused on telecommunications issues. Before her work at Booz Allen Hamilton, she was a senior fellow with the Heinz Endowments.
De Wit holds bachelor’s degrees in communications and sociology from Penn State University and a master’s in public administration from the University of Pittsburgh.
Jean Dimeo
Managing Editor
Route Fifty
Alisha Powell Gillis
Senior Editor
Route Fifty
Alisha Powell Gillis is the senior editor at Route Fifty where she is responsible for programming live and online events content, moderating panel discussions, soliciting, editing and writing analytical pieces and overseeing the annual Navigator Awards program. Before joining Route Fifty, Alisha was the director for community impact at the Urban Libraries Council (ULC) where she worked to connect urban public libraries to critical issues in state and local government and led event programming. Prior to ULC, Alisha served the nation's governors for nearly a decade at the National Governors Association where she specialized in homeland security, emergency management and cybersecurity issues. Alisha holds a master's degree in global security studies from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor's degree in political science from Hofstra University.