Jason Adkins
CEO
Bluebird Fiber
Jason W. Adkins joined Bluebird Fiber in March 2024. He is 30-year fiber industry veteran and previously served as CEO of Unite Private Networks. He has held leadership roles with Windstream, Kentucky Data Link (KDL), Level 3 Communications, TelCove, Conterra Networks, and KMC Telecom. Jason earned a B.B.A. in Marketing with a minor in Economics from James Madison University and an M.B.A. from Radford University.
Taylre Beaty
State Broadband Director
Tennessee Economic and Community Development
Taylre Beaty started as the State Broadband Director at Tennessee Economic and Community Development (TNECD) in September 2021. In her almost five years at TNECD, Taylre has been leading an effort to invest and administer over $1.45 billion in state and federally funded broadband projects across the state of Tennessee, with the mission of getting all unserved and underserved Tennessee households and businesses connected to high-speed internet by 2028. She is also working to ensure all Tennesseans are positioned well to not only adopt to broadband technology, but also have the resources needed to connect to a broadband-enabled device. Prior to joining TNECD, she worked on Broadband Initiatives at USDA Rural Development in Washington, D.C. She earned a Master’s in Agricultural Economics from Texas A&M University and a Bachelor’s in Agricultural and Resource Economics from the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. She’s originally from East Tennessee.
Toni Broberg
Vice President, External Affairs
Gigapower
Toni Broberg serves as Vice President of External Affairs at Gigapower, where she leads strategic engagement with local, state, and external stakeholders to support the company’s broadband infrastructure expansion and public policy initiatives. Prior to this role, she was the President of the Desert Southwest Region for AT&T, where she oversaw operations and external affairs across Arizona and New Mexico. Her earlier roles at AT&T included serving as Director of External and Legislative Affairs, where she championed community partnerships and advanced key policy objectives in telecommunications and infrastructure. Toni brings a wealth of public sector experience to her corporate leadership, having served in the White House as Deputy Associate Director for Communities at the Council on Environmental Quality, where she helped drive environmental justice initiatives. She also held the role of Senior Advisor for Congressional Affairs at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and has extensive experience navigating complex government affairs at the local, state, and federal levels. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Master’s degree in Liberal Studies from Arizona State University.
Danielle Burt
Partner
Morgan Lewis
Danielle Burt counsels on communications regulatory issues, including transactions, licensing, and telecommunications, media, and technology rules and policies. She advises clients before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), all 51 State Public Utility Commissions (PUCs), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and local and municipal county governments. Her clients include domestic and international voice and data carriers; cable television, open video system, and other multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs); financial institutions; and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), wireless, and broadband service providers. Danielle’s practice involves counseling on transaction issues and securing necessary FCC, State PUC, DOJ, and local government approvals for mergers, transfers of control, assets sales, reorganizations, and financing transactions, including those involving foreign investment; and assisting clients to obtain FCC and state PUC licenses to provide domestic and international long distance service, competitive local exchange service, wireless service, and satellite service. She also advises and represents clients on FCC and State PUC compliance and enforcement issues; advises on federal government broadband funding programs rules and policies; counsels on rights-of-way, pole attachment, and franchise agreements for construction of telecommunications and MVPD network and facilities; and advocates for pro-competitive regulatory rules and policies at the FCC and State PUCs. Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Danielle was part of the corporate practice at another international law firm.
Brian Gregory
Senior Director, Product Marketing
Intermedia Intelligent Communications
Brian Gregory is the Senior Director of Product Marketing at Intermedia Cloud Communications. He has responsibility for guiding Intermedia’s service provider marketing initiatives, including product strategy, content development, business analytics, and go-to-market execution. Brian has held various roles in marketing and product management at communication service providers and technology concerns, including Ribbon, Metaswitch and Sprint.
Jason Hill
Managing Director & Co-Head of U.S. Technology, Global Head of Digital Infrastructure
Houlihan Lokey
Jason Hill is Co-Head of Houlihan Lokey’s U.S. Technology Group and Global Head of Digital Infrastructure. He is based in the firm’s Boston office. Prior to joining Houlihan Lokey, Jason was a Managing Partner at MVP Capital, an independent firm that provided a range of advisory services to clients in the technology, media, and telecommunications sector before being acquired by Houlihan Lokey in 2020. While there, he co-founded the Telecom/Digital Infrastructure practice and led the Telecom/Digital Infrastructure and Technology group. Jason has advised on M&A and capital-raising transactions throughout the digital infrastructure sector for more than 20 years, including working with clients in the fiber/broadband, fixed wireless, towers, spectrum, wireless services, data center, and landline sectors. He has worked with companies of all sizes and at all stages of development. With more than 25 years of investment banking experience, Jason often speaks at industry conferences. In 2019, he was named as one of TMT Finance’s Top 10 M&A Comms Dealmakers. Jason began his investment banking career at Goldman Sachs, where he worked as an Analyst in the Energy and Power group. Jason holds a B.S. in Finance and Economics from Boston College.
Laura Johns
Founder and CEO
The Business Growers
Laura Johns is the founder and CEO of The Business Growers, a leading marketing firm specializing in helping Managed Services Providers (MSPs), IT companies, and telecommunication providers grow revenue. The company was named one of Inc.'s Fastest Growing Companies in the Southeast earlier this year. With a team of seasoned experts and decades of industry-specific experience, The Business Growers delivers a full suite of done-for-you marketing services tailored to the unique needs of these industries. For 20 years, Laura has managed marketing efforts for companies ranging from tech startups to global, multi-billion dollar businesses. She spent nearly half her career serving as a corporate marketing executive in the telecommunications industry before starting The Business Growers. Laura won the 2024 Gold Stevie® Award for Best Female Entrepreneur (Small Business) and the 2025 Silver Stevie® Award for Achievement in Developing and Promoting Women, one of her life's greatest passions. In her home state of Mississippi, she has been honored as “Top 50 under 40” and “Top 50 Leading Women in Business.” Laura graduated cum laude from Mississippi College and earned a Master of Arts from the University of Alabama.
Andrew D. Lipman
Partner
Morgan Lewis
Andrew D. Lipman practices in most aspects of communications law and related fields, including regulatory, transactional, litigation, legislative, and land use. Andy’s clients in the private and public sectors include those in the areas of local, long distance, and international telephone common carriage; Internet services and technologies; conventional and emerging wireless services; satellite services; broadcasting; competitive video services; telecommunications equipment manufacturing; and other high-technology applications. Additionally, he manages privatizations of telecommunications carriers in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. To open the U.S. local telephone market to competition, Andy has been involved in most new legal and regulatory policies at the Federal Communications Commission, at state public service commissions, in Congress, and before courts. He helped shape crucial provisions of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and used similar approaches to promote the opening of foreign markets. He also obtained one of the first competitive local service and interconnection agreements in continental Europe and the first competitive fiber network application in Japan. Andy’s practice includes strategic analysis of companies’ telecom user agreements, renegotiating existing agreements, and negotiating new, more favorable telecom user agreements. For nearly a decade, Andy served as senior vice president, legal and regulatory affairs, for MFS Communications, the nation’s largest competitive local services provider. One of the founders of MFS, Andy helped guide the company from startup to its eventual sale for $14.4 billion to WorldCom. Andy served as general counsel to the International Teleconferencing Association and as legislative/regulatory counsel to the International Satellite Users Association. He sits on the board of directors of five public companies trading on the NYSE, NASDAQ, and Toronto Stock Exchange. Additionally, he co-founded the Association of Local Telecommunication Services (ALTS)—the national trade association for competitive telecommunications carriers—and served as its first chairman. Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Andy was a partner in the corporate practice of another international law firm, where he was also a member of the executive board and leader of the telecommunications, media and technology practice. Before entering private practice, he participated in the legal honors program at the US Department of Transportation and served in the Office of the Secretary of Transportation. He also served as an extern law clerk to Judge Raymond Sullivan of the California Supreme Court.
Richard S. Lukaj
Senior Managing Director
Bank Street Group LLC
Richard Lukaj has nearly 30 years of investment banking experience having originated, structured and executed hundreds of deals totaling over $100 billion of transaction value. Rich is a founder and Managing Partner of Bank Street and aspires, with his colleagues, to create a premier investment banking franchise focused on growth sectors of the global economy. Rich has executed transactions over the course of his successful investment banking career, ranging in variety from mergers and acquisitions, underwriting of debt, equity and derivative securities, restructurings, exclusive sales, and other financial advisory mandates. Although heavily weighted towards the Media, Communications and Technology industries, he also has a very broad industry experience in Industrial, Consumer, Retailing, Energy, Aerospace, Specialty Finance, Real Estate and Natural Resources arenas.
Patricia Martin
CEO
Dobson Fiber
Patricia Martin serves as CEO of Dobson Fiber where she leads the company’s continued expansion of its regional fiber network and overall operational performance across Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas. She brings more than 25 years of experience leading large-scale telecommunications operations, with a focus on network expansion, integration, and customer delivery. Prior to joining Dobson Fiber, Patricia served as CEO of Point Broadband and spent more than 18 years at Cox Communications. She served as Senior Vice President of the Integration Management Office, where she led pre- and post-investment business acquisition activities, including the integration of new acquisitions that aligned with Cox’s growth trajectory.
Joy Milkowski
Partner
Access Marketing Company
Joy Milkowski is a marketing strategist and revenue growth advisor who helps executives, marketers and sales teams turn bold ideas into measurable wins. As Partner at Access Marketing Company, she develops go-to-market strategies that boost visibility, engage customers, and drive growth. She’s known for generating smart ideas and turning them into clear, actionable marketing and sales tactics that deliver results. Joy is the creator of the GIVE Method, a value-first framework that moves teams beyond traditional marketing and sales playbooks into strategies that win attention, trust, and market share. Known for her authentic, no-nonsense style, she works with leaders who want to challenge the status quo, create customer-centric messaging, and turn strategy into action. In her sessions, Joy blends high-impact marketing principles with innovative uses of data and AI to give professionals an edge, particularly in complex sales cycles with crowded, competitive markets. Attendees leave with ready-to-use frameworks, tools, and tactics that help them stand out, drive more pipeline, and dominate as “the human in the loop.”
Ilissa Miller
Founder and CEO
iMiller Public Relations
Ilissa Miller is Founder and CEO of iMiller Public Relations, host of NEDAS Live!, and Editor-in-Chief of Data Center POST. With nearly 30 years of digital infrastructure experience, she advises companies on strategy, messaging, market growth, and community-risk communications through iMPR’s Groundswell™ program. Ilissa is a former two-term elected Trustee in Westchester County, N.Y., and chairs OIX’s Digital Infrastructure Framework Committee.
Chip Pickering
CEO
INCOMPAS
Chip Pickering has been CEO of INCOMPAS since January 2014. During that time, INCOMPAS has achieved significant growth with leading internet, backbone, business broadband, wireless, and international companies. Under his leadership, INCOMPAS has led numerous public policy campaigns promoting competition through an open internet and in the business broadband market. Pickering was a six-term Congressman representing Mississippi’s Third District. During his time in the House, he served on the Energy & Commerce Committee, where he was vice chairman from 2002 to 2006 and a member of the Telecommunications Subcommittee. He also was co-chairman and founder of the Congressional Wireless Caucus and an assistant minority whip of the House. Previously, Chip worked for Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and served as a staff member on the Senate Commerce Committee, where he helped shape the Telecommunications Act of 1996. Because of his role in drafting the 1996 Act, he became well known as a Congressional leader on telecommunications issues. While in Congress, Chip served as chair of the subcommittee overseeing the transition to the commercial internet, the establishment of domain names, registries, and internet governance. He also successfully led a bipartisan legislative effort to codify net neutrality principles through the House in 2006. Prior to joining INCOMPAS, Chip was a partner with Capitol Resources LLC, a public affairs and government relations firm, where he represented an array of telecom clients, including wireless, cable and competitive broadband providers, as well as non-profits and companies specializing in education, energy, technology and defense.
Staci Pies
Senior Vice President, Government Relations and Policy
INCOMPAS
Staci Pies is an innovative executive with decades of experience in public policy, technology, and business. She is recognized for her ability to navigate complex regulatory landscapes, transforming them into growth opportunities by shaping policies that reduce barriers, unlock funding, and drive innovation in digital infrastructure. With deep expertise in broadband, AI-driven networks, and telecommunications, Staci has consistently delivered measurable, long-term impact for organizations and communities. As Vice President of Public Policy and Government Affairs at Crown Castle, Staci launched the company’s first Washington, D.C. office and public policy team. Her efforts positioned Crown Castle as a key player in digital infrastructure deployment, creating long-term regulatory improvements and securing federal funding. Staci’s leadership also led to the development of national advocacy strategies that streamlined broadband infrastructure permitting, reducing regulatory burdens, and lowering deployment costs. Previously, Staci served as Senior Policy Counsel at Google, where she expanded market opportunities by ensuring regulations supported the deployment of digital infrastructure and minimized barriers to broadband expansion, thereby safeguarding YouTube’s profitability and influencing Google’s hardware standards. She led policy initiatives for alternative access technologies, advancing 5G spectrum strategies and contributing to the U.S. Government’s National Spectrum Policy, which generated $500 billion in U.S. economic value. Additionally, Staci developed and implemented public policy strategies to integrate cybersecurity and privacy protections into connectivity and telecom products, enhancing digital security and regulatory compliance. At Microsoft and Skype, Staci secured support from business champions and the Speaker of the House to implement a rule change allowing Skype usage in Congress. She collaborated with the House and Senate Committees on Administration to educate members on Skype’s security protocols, ultimately securing full endorsement. Staci also developed an action plan featuring technology demonstrations, an educational initiative, and customized user agreements for Congress and federal agencies. Staci holds a Juris Doctorate from Washington College of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Pepperdine University.
Greg Rogers
Head, Global Policy & Regulatory Affairs
Bandwidth
Greg Rogers is head of Global Policy and Regulatory Affairs for Bandwidth Inc., where he leads Bandwidth’s regulatory and public policy matters. Bandwidth’s software-enabled communications platform (CPaaS) powers a wide-range of innovative VoIP and Messaging services. Bandwidth is also a leading industry provider of VoIP 9-1-1 routing services across the country. Bandwidth’s nationwide Internet Protocol-based network incorporates its wholly owned facilities-based CLEC with an interconnection footprint that spans the 48 continental states. Greg has been leading Bandwidth’s regulatory and public policy efforts since 2010. Prior to joining Bandwidth, he managed state and federal regulatory matters at Level 3 Communications. Greg is an alumnus of The Colorado College and the University of Colorado School of Law.
Kristen Sanderson
Senior Vice President
Duos Technologies Inc.
Kristen Sanderson is a senior technology and infrastructure executive with more than 20 years of experience navigating the full data center ecosystem, from hyperscale AI environments to edge and modular deployments in supply-constrained markets. As Senior Vice President at Duos Technologies, Inc., she leads strategic growth initiatives across North America, advising customers on resilient procurement strategies, data center deployments, and execution models that mitigate manufacturing delays, labor shortages, and supply chain volatility. Throughout her career, Kristen has built deep working relationships with leading AI hyperscaler and data center vendors across power, cooling, fiber, switchgear, networking, and enclosure platforms. Her vendor-agnostic approach enables organizations to preserve basis-of-design integrity while activating pre-approved alternates based on lead time, availability, or cost—without compromising reliability, performance, or standardization. This expertise is particularly critical as AI infrastructure demand competes for constrained manufacturing capacity with hyperscalers. Prior to joining Duos Technologies, Kristen spent more than a decade at Accu-Tech Corporation as Director of Data Center Solutions, where she led enterprise and multi-tenant deployments spanning white space infrastructure, high-density power and cooling systems, custom enclosures, fiber and network architecture, DAS, security, and integrated services. She regularly partnered with hyperscaler-grade manufacturers while tailoring solutions for smaller operators who cannot absorb 50–70 week component lead times. Kristen is widely recognized for her expertise in supply chain resilience for AI and edge data centers, including dual sourcing frameworks, creative procurement alternatives, and materials management strategies that reduce onsite labor requirements. Her experience with kitting, labeling, phased delivery, and construction-aligned logistics has helped eliminate 20%-40% of onsite labor hours on complex deployments. She is a strong advocate for modular data center strategies that future-proof AI infrastructure—enabling phased capital deployment, shorter lead times, reduced power and water dependencies, and faster execution compared to large hyperscale builds. Kristen is especially focused on empowering mid-market operators, regional clouds, enterprises, and public sector organizations that are often crowded out of the supply chain by hyperscalers. A multiple-time recipient of Accu-Tech’s President’s Club and the Staples Sales Excellence Award, Kristen is known for translating complex ecosystem dynamics into practical decision frameworks for IT leaders, engineers, and procurement teams. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of Colorado Boulder.
Justin Suhr
Vice President, Construction & Engineering
Great Plains Communications
Justin Suhr serves as Vice President of Construction & Engineering at Great Plains Communications, where he oversees the planning, design and execution of the company’s strategic fiber network expansion. He leads both engineering and construction teams, driving efficient, high-quality network growth across GPC’s footprint. With nearly two decades of experience in telecommunications and engineering, Justin has a strong background in fiber design, construction management and strategic infrastructure development. His leadership plays a key role in ensuring GPC delivers cutting-edge, reliable connectivity to customers and communities.
Jim Tyrrell
Vice President, Information Services, Communications Market
Transaction Network Services Inc.
Jim Tyrrell joined TNS in July 2018 as Senior Director of Product Marketing, before being promoted to Vice President of Enterprise Product Management in 2022, stepping into the role of Vice President of Global Product Strategy in 2024 and now as Vice President, Information Services. In this role, Jim takes the lead on TNS’s product positioning and go to market strategy for the Information Services solutions, including Routing, Registry and Gateway products, as well as industry relations and regulatory affairs, working closely with the wider product team and colleagues in sales, marketing and operations, among others. An innovative strategist, Jim’s focus is to drive the advancement of TNS’s go-to-market initiatives, refine the communication of its value proposition, generate thought leadership opportunities and ensure all activities support the company vision. Jim prides himself on being a creative problem solver and has more than 15 years’ experience in product management, development and marketing roles. Most recently Jim was Vice President of Product Management at Conduit Global where he helped the company to raise global brand awareness by 15% and increased EBITDA by 43% in one year by productizing its range of operational and technical solutions. A telecommunications industry veteran, Jim has also spent time in senior roles with Comcast Business, Siemens Enterprise Communications (now Unify), Verizon and XO Communications. Jim holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a Master’s degree in Management Information Systems, both from The State University of New York (SUNY).