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| Policy Panelists Participating in 2007 Forum |
2007 Policy Forum
Friday, February 9, 2007
National Press Club, Washington, DC
PRESENTATIONS AND REPORTS
Slide Presentation by Takashi Ebihara
Slide Presentation by Brian Mefford
APT's Report, Achieving Universal Broadband: Policies for Stimulating Deployment and Demand
Coming Soon: APT Policy Forum Report
2007 FORUM PARTICIPANTS
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| APT Policy Chair, Robert Atkinson, moderating the Policy Forum |
Robert D. Atkinson, Ph.D. is President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation and APT Policy Chair. He is the author of the New Economy Index series which looks at the impact of the New Economy on the U.S., state and metropolitan economies. He is also author of the book, "The Past and Future of America's Economy: Long Waves of Innovation that Power Cycles of Growth" (Edward Elgar, 2005). While at PPI he has written groundbreaking reports on a wide range of economic and technology issues. He also directed PPI's New Economy Task Force, co-chaired by Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle and Gateway CEO Ted Waitt.
Previously, he was Vice President of the Progressive Policy Institute and director of PPI's Technology & New Economy Project. Before that he served as executive director of the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council, a public private partnership including as members the Governor, legislative leaders, and corporate and labor leaders. Prior to that he was project director at the former Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. Dr. Atkinson was appointed by President Clinton to the Commission on Workers, Communities, and Economic Change in the New Economy. He is also a member of the Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, co-chaired by Markle Foundation president Zoe Baird and former Netscape Communications chairman James Barksdale. He received his Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1989.
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| Albert Browne of the Verizon Foundation Speaks About Public-Private Partnerships |
Albert J. Browne is a National Program Director and Vice President of Education and Technology for Verizon Corporate Foundation. At Verizon, Mr. Browne is responsible for building the foundation's initiatives in the Education and Technology space. This includes leading the effort to expand the Foundation's flagship and signature program – Thinkfinity. The Foundation's digital platform, Thinkfinity provides over 54,000 educational resources to educators is developed in partnership with twelve of the nation's education and literacy standard setting organizations.
Prior to joining Verizon he led the startup of three business divisions and built fifteen Educational Technology Community Centers as Vice President of Community Preservation and Development Corporation's (CPDC). At CPDC he was the chief socio-economic architect behind the introduction of broadband technology as a community building tool and the economic revitalization of the Edgewood Terrace community in Northeast Washington, DC. Mr. Browne directed (CPDC's) workforce, educational, technology, resource development and strategic partnership initiatives. Before joining CPDC, Mr. Browne spent ten years as a senior manager and director for Covenant House, at that time an $87 million dollar private non-profit. Mr. Brown has advanced degrees, certificates in leadership and is an adjunct college and university professor.
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| Takashi Ebihara Responding to a Question from the Forum Audience |
Takashi Ebihara is a Senior Director of the Corporate Strategy Department at NTT EAST Corporation. He concurrently holds a Visiting Fellowship at Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, DC. As a leading technology strategist, Mr. Ebihara has been involved in NTT's Next Generation Network initiatives for the last couple of years. His current strategic interests include innovative broadband services and enabling technologies and the policy implications of broadband development in the U.S. and Japan.
He has more than 15 years of experience in the telecommunications industry. Prior to his US assignment, he served in various departments within NTT and NTT EAST including capital investment management, R&D for broadband access networks, and interconnection businesses. He earned his B.A. in applied physics from Tokyo University of Science and an M.B.A. in Asia Pacific Business from the National University of Singapore.
See Takashi Ebihara's Presentation
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| CEO Brian Mefford Highlights the Extraordinary Success of ConnectKentucky |
Brian Mefford serves as the President & CEO of Connected Nation, Inc., a non-profit group whose mission is to accelerate technology availability, literacy and use throughout the nation. During his tenure, he has been responsible for leading the successful efforts of broadband expansion in Kentucky with ConnectKentucky – the organization's pilot project. Fueled by Kentucky's Prescription for Innovation, ConnectKentucky has facilitated tremendous growth in broadband availability and adoption, and was recently recognized as the winner of the U.S. Economic Development Administration's Excellence in Innovation Award. Prior to his role, Mr. Mefford served as chief of Staff to Kentucky Commerce Secretary Jim Host. In that capacity, he also served as Chief Information Officer for the Commerce Cabinet as well as Governor Ernie Fletcher's Legislative Liaison for Commerce and Economic Development.
Mr. Mefford has extensive experience in business development and leadership, business intelligence and communications, and government affairs. In a leadership capacity, he has been involved in a number of successful high-tech startups or early stage businesses in various parts of the United Sates. He founded The Coronado Group in Phoenix, Arizona and the Pareto Institute in Washington, D.C. He also worked as a high-tech sector market analyst for New York- based Fulcrum Analytics, a business intelligence and marketing services firm.
Mr. Mefford participates in the Legislative Studies Program of the Governmental Affairs Institute at Georgetown University. He received a B.S. in Economics from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky and an International M.B.A. from Thunderbird, The American Graduate School of International Management, Glendale, Arizona.
See Brian Mefford's Presentation
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| APT President Kenneth R. Peres Opening up the Policy Forum |
Kenneth R. Peres, Ph.D. is APT's President and Research Economist for the Communications Workers of America. In relation to telecommunications, he has represented CWA in many proceedings before the New York Public Service Commission and the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, worked on regulatory legislation, and conducted analyses of service quality performance. He has served as economist for the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, the Montana House Committee on Economic Development and the Montana Alliance for Progressive Policy. Mr. Peres has held teaching positions at the University of Montana, St. John's University, Chief Dull Knife College and the City University of New York. He obtained a Ph.D. in economics from the Graduate Faculty of the New School for Social Research in New York City.
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| Presenter Alec Ross of One Economy Corporation Speaks About Innovative Approaches to Broadband Deployment and Access |
Alec Ross serves as Senior Vice President for Corporate and Business Development and is a co-founder of One Economy Corporation. Under his leadership, Alec has established groundbreaking programs and corporate partnerships with top-of-market private sector, governmental and nonprofit organizations across sectors including the telecommunications, financial services and education fields to help achieve One Economy's mission.
He also stewards One Economy's public policy initiatives, which include federal and local leadership in lawmaking and regulatory issues regarding technology and telecommunications in low-income communities. These efforts culminated in Bring IT Home, a national campaign that has helped change housing policies in 42 states and brought broadband to hundreds of thousands of low-income Americans.
Prior to the founding of One Economy in July of 2000, Alec served as Special Assistant to the President of The Enterprise Foundation. In this capacity, he led special projects and the development of strategies related to new business development, fundraising, technology, and program development. Alec graduated from Northwestern University.
MEDIA COVERAGE
Press Releases
Articles
February 9, 2007 - Telecommunications Daily, "Markey Wants Progress on Disability Access for Internet Technologies"
“...the Alliance for Public Technology’s “Achieving Universal Broadband” report that was released in conjunction with today’s policy forum recommended the establishment of “clear national goals for broadband deployment”; requiring “accurate reporting of broadband deployment, speeds, and prices”; continuing to “foster private investment and marketplace competition”; requiring recipients of Universal Service Fund support to offer broadband services; providing tax incentives, low-interest loans, and grants to encourage broadband deployment, creating an “office of broadband” within the federal government; and utilizing “nontraditional, nontelecommunications programs more effectively.” http://www.tr.com/newsletters/trd/
February 12, 2007 – Communications Daily, "Industrywide Trust Key to Broadband Legislation, APT Panelists Say"
“Revamping the FCC’s data-collection techniques is the first step in getting a coherent universal broadband policy together, said Kenneth Peres, an economist for the CWA and the [President of] the APT. http://www.warren-news.com/telecomservices.htm
Other Coverage
If you know of other media mentions of this event, please contact Maytal Selzer.
